I did not know much beyond the basics about the Occupy Movement when I decided to go to New York last week.. I knew it was a group for economic justice and that it has been spreading all over the world. When I heard that my friends were going, I thought it would be worth seeing in order to learn about a movement for which some people have given up parts of their lives. As someone who was pretty unfamiliar  with this issue, I thought it would be a great opportunity to experience something completely different from anything I ever experienced and use my knowledge of journalism to engage it from an unbiased perspective.

I arrived on Oct. 14 at Zuccotti Park which stands in the heart of the financial district. The protesters were an assortment of people of all races and ages. There was a surprisingly large amount of middle-aged people within the group. When I imagined protesters living in a park, I pictured a lush green like Woodstock that would be full of blankets and open space to sleep under the skies. The thing that I completely forgot is that not all New York City parks are like Central Park. Instead of soft grass, the protesters were sleeping on granite. An array of tarps canvassed the ground as protesters slept with sleeping bags or blankets.

The size of the park was shocking. The area was no bigger than 33,000 square feet and to put that in perspective, a football field is 57,600 square feet. This might sound large, but when the park is filled with a sleeping area, food, media and library, it gets quite small. The mood of the place was reminiscent of an army resting for a big day on the battlefield. I had heard of Zuccotti Park smelling nasty at Occupy Wall Street, but only the aromas of various foods surrounded me.

The scene  resembled a zoo. People were actively walking around while passersby took photos and videos on their cell phones from a distance. Officers surrounded the area and the protesters paid them little heed. The most attention was given to a circle of people who stood near the steps from where I entered.

I had been to Occupy Amherst to get mentally prepared for Occupy Wall Street and noticed that people spoke in an operation called the ‘people’s microphone,’ where one says something and then people repeat it in an echo format outward. In this discussion they discussed issues such as investing puppets as tools to spread their message. The protesters then vote on in either a yes, no or ‘block’ in which the people cross their arms and hold them up. If people block, they have a safety or ethical concern and will leave the group if this issue passes.

Anyone is allowed to speak. Among these anonymous people, some spoke powerful statements that sent shocks of energy through the crowd. When describing their movement and in the midst of various disagreement, one man used the ‘people’s mic’ and said, “It’s not always easy, it’s not always comfortable, but it sure as hell is beautiful right now.”

The group also conducted a donation for a member who did not have money to pay an ambulance fee. Within its first minutes around, the little grey bowl was filled with singles. As the General Assembly dragged on, I left and went home to rest because the next day there was a march planned to Washington Square Park and then to Times Square.

When I returned at 11 a.m. the next morning, the place was in a wild upswing. The amount of people had multiplied. The protesters appeared rejuvenated; they held signs, were changing into suits and chanting. Among the actions occurring there were people passing out buttons at stations, while others were binding their mouth with dollar bills as others held up signs or changed into suits.

One man who was wearing a suit in the park was Nathaniel Sullivan. When Sullivan spoke about the reason for the suit, he said, “It’s good to reclaim the uniform… I was asked by someone to perform in the suit. It has nothing to do with the [suit] movement. It creates a nice dissident element.”

The suit movement was multi-faceted. Barbers were trimming overgrown locks, while fitters worked on measuring people and then had them use the ‘changing room,’ which consisted of four people holding a ring of curtain that you dressed inside of. Your photo was then taken in the suit for a portrait.

One fitter, Radek Szccesny, was busy shuffling people across the street to get their photos taken. “We are sort of thinking of it as tactical camouflage,” he said. “The media has been coming down on the way some of the movement looks like hippies.”

“The suit movement is a one day kind of thing,” he added. “We fundraised for 100-150 suits. A lot of people have never had a suit. They can do whatever they want with them.”

Radek further explained that once the suits were given out, people could keep them.

At around midday the protesters began to march to Washington Square Park, with the ultimate destination being Times Square. As the line of protesters grew, police officers paralleled them and walked in the street. In the line chants began to start, “All day, all week, Occupy Wall Street.”

There were also people in the line holding black flags and a red flag leading the march. One man, nicknamed ‘Wilson,’ was one of the flag holders, which he would explain is called a ‘pacer.’

“The red flag is to follow and the black flags answer questions,” he said. “The red flag has connotation to communism, Marxism… the black flag can be coupled with anarchism. These are just symbols and have no direct meaning though.”

‘Wilson’ further explained, “I am here, first and foremost, to help people.” He had been at Occupy Wall Street for a week and originally was from Sarasota, Fla.

Looking out from the march at the crowds of people taking photos has a dehumanizing effect. The protesters subdue it with chanting, “Don’t watch, join us,” or “You are the 99 percent,” but the feeling is still objectifying.

Looking around, all the signs had the emotions that people elicit. Some were humorous, some inquisitive, while others were just angry. Once the protesters arrived at Washington Square Park, it appeared to be a celebration. An inflatable Spider Man was tossed around the crowd while some drummed on plastic pales and people appeared joyous.

Using the ‘peoples’ mic,’ the protesters discussed all that they had accomplished and how the movement has been growing across the world. Another chant started as “We are unstoppable, another world is possible,” overtook the park. From the ‘mic,’ people put their cause into public perspective. One protester said, “We are watching them, and the whole world is watching us.” The celebrations were cut short when someone announced that 23 students had been arrested while pulling their money out of a bank. A certain part of the crowd left to march on the bank while the rest remained with plans to march to Time Square at 3:30 p.m.

This march would be the longer of the two. The protesters filled both sidewalks as they marched and the police presence grew as well. Lines of cops on scooters were used to prevent people from marching on the street. Most of the officers that I encountered were friendly and reasonable in their statements and only were angered when protesters refused to keep moving or responded with attitude. As the sea of people crossed the street, the drumming could be heard all around and booming police megaphones tried to cut through the noise. Once the protesters got closer to Times Square, the amount of pedestrians taking photographs and videos multiplied. They would stand behind barricades holding their phones out hoping to capture the energy of the crowd. Bright orange kettle nets began to become more common as the protesters approached, as one protester called it, “the capital of capitalism.”

Once the protesters arrived at Times Square, it became filled. People crammed into one another as police began to make their presence known. A wall of mounted officers took point and tried to prevent the protesters from moving out further into the center of Time Square. Cops also hit the scaffolding pipes with nightsticks to force the protesters sitting up on the steel rails to climb down. A helicopter hovered overhead as a portable watchtower was set up by the NYPD, in addition to the uniformed officers in uniform and those clad in riot gear with helmets and nightsticks.

In response, some of the protesters sat down in the street and began to sing, “This Little Light of Mine.” During this moment of unity, even the officers could not help but crack a faint smile, the first I had seen from one all day. Chants also began to fly as tensions grew. The crammed crowds of protesters began to press against the police barricade. Unsuspecting tourists were greatly angered by this protest as it prevented them from moving as they were forced to manage their way through the singing mobs of people. The protest remained relatively peaceful as some protesters against the barricade got into altercations with officers as the barricade moved and an assault between two women broke out due to the close quarters. The heat increased as the fluorescent lights of advertisements illuminated the sea of protesters and cops. Some protesters would be arrested before the night was through.

People began to file out as cops made room for people to leave through 46th street. It had the same feeling as leaving a concert near the tail of the last song, hearing the booming slowly growing fainter.

During the 24-hour period described, two on-duty police officers were asked, but declined interview.

Jeff Mitchell can be reached at [email protected]