On Monday, May 5, former New School Student, Cecily McMillan was found guilty of assaulting a police officer in the second degree. McMillan was one of the many Occupy Wall Street protestors arrested on the night of March 17,2012, the six month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. The Free Press has been following since her arrest in 2012, here is our past and continuing coverage on Cecily McMillan and the last Occupy Wall Street trial.
Live: Final Day in Cecily McMillan Trial
Cecily McMillan, a New School student and Occupy Wall Street activist, is in court this week to face a politically charged felony trial for assaulting a police officer. If convicted, she could be sentenced to seven years in prison.
On March 17, the NYPD arrested New School for Social Research student Cecily McMillan during a rally at Zuccotti Park commemorating the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. The incident made international headlines, with much of the attention focused on the police’s treatment of McMillan — who reportedly suffered a seizure and sustained numerous physical injuries.
Cecily McMillan was an ever-present facilitator at the student occupation of The New School’s 90 Fifth Ave. study center this past fall. As she told the Free Press in December, McMillan believed it was “a true possibility that the occupation would incite a series of student occupations across the country and launch a student movement.”
An Exclusive Occupation: Enmity at 90 Fifth Ave. and the Devolution of a Student Movement
In the opening moments of the All-City Student Occupation on November 17, the second-floor of the Student Study Center at 90 Fifth Ave. buzzed with energy, excitement and confusion. As hundreds of students from universities across New York filed in, the room filled with enthused chatter about the days ahead — they envisioned lively debate, political organizing and, hopefully, the launch of a nationwide student movement. For many, The New School had just become the new Zuccotti Park.
After May Day, What’s Next for Occupy?
On the afternoon of May 1, Lang junior Lukas Walczak and a group of fellow students were marching up Sixth Avenue from Washington Square Park. They had just participated in the much-anticipated May Day Wildcat march, an assembly of protesters, many of them in “black bloc” attire, which featured frequent clashes with the police. The march evolved into a general assembly at Washington Square, where Walczak and others decided to march uptown to join the day’s planned mass solidarity rally at Union Square.
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