Approximately 1,000 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to Foley Square at around 3 p.m. this afternoon to protest the Obama administration's role in a settlement that would indemnify banks who were directly involved with creating the mortgage crisis. Though the NYPD could not confirm the number of arrests, a DCPI officer noted that "they would be in the family of 20 or so," more than the four that the movement claims were arrested on the steps of the Supreme Court building. Eyewitnesses wrote that the NYPD began arresting protesters after they blocked pedestrian traffic in front of the courthouse, and one claims that video will surface of a NYPD officer punching a protester in the face.
The march coincided with Bank Transfer Day and Guy Fawkes Day, but the settlement to resolve claims against banks for dubious practices in the collateralized debt obligation game was what drew the demonstrators' ire today. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been one of the few state attorneys general to insist on further investigating the terms of the settlement—which would allow banks like Bank of America to pay 5 cents on the dollar to jilted investors and protect them from litigation on the matter—and the White House has pushed back against his efforts.
Nevermind that the settlement wouldn't provide homeowners on the brink of foreclosure any real assistance and ignores the sleazy robo-signing and forgery committed by Bank of America, among others: can't we just move along? After all, who wants to re-litigate the past?
