Occupiers Sit Down in Times Square, Declare Another NYC is Possible

Tonight my colleague Sarah Jaffe and I went down to check out the culminating action in a week of anti-austerity protests in NYC.

A group of about two hundred or so activists, occupiers, and community members arrived in the heart of billboard-blaring, lights-blinking, temple-to-money-spending Times Square, where they were greeted by a banner and a saxophonist playing the national anthem.

In the static space, the feeling was distinctly reminiscent of Zuccotti Park, a pop-up occupation where people greeted friends and talked about their movement's successes, failures and hopes.

At 7 p.m., the entire crowd simultaneously counted down as though it were New Years Eve, then all at once sat down and in unison, read a declaration about their hopes for a better year. Next, they held a people's assembly and finished with a rousing chorus of a fun new anthem for the 99%.

I created a Storify of the event. Scroll from the top to the bottom to find out how it unfolded, and check out more multimedia below it.

Here's a minute of a half of audio from the singing: