Pandas on the prowl in Williamsburg
From Dantekgeek via flickr
A roving street party turned ugly Saturday night when police confronted hundreds of people — some of the dressed up as panda bears -- in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
The police say that they arrested two of the organizers, who were charged with inciting a riot. Videos of some of the clashes quickly made their rounds on the Internet and blogs.
The party was called “Pandamonium 2008” and word of it was distributed on social networking sites and Twitter. Participants who signed up for updates were told to meet at Union Square at 8:30 for a “Costumed+Roving+Street+Party+Apocalypitc+Dance+Rock+Battle.”
The group migrated over to Williamsburg, where they occupied the streets around the Bedford Avenue L stop for several blocks. Witnesses estimated that there were about 300 people in attendance, many of whom had black and white face paint, wore masks and were dressed in white painter’s outfits.
The participants were chanting, “Whose street? Out street!” and some began overturning newspaper boxes. They were soon accompanied by a sizeable police presence including squad cars, helicopters, and fire trucks.
“Hundreds of people were out on the sidewalk, dancing, yelling, having a good time,” said Noel Hidalgo, a community activist who goes by the name No Neck and who witnessed the event. “Police were trying to control people and clear the streets and that’s when it got out of control.”
Some of the participants said the purpose behind “Pandamonium 2008 remained unclear.
“I’m not quite sure what the whole idea was other than to wreak havoc,” said Dan Lurie, 19, a City College student. “It was an interesting event but I’m not sure there was a message here.”
--David Freedlander
Comments (10)
http://pandamoniumnyc.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/pandahandout.pdf
Why?
This city has always been organized around the flow of money for both work and consumption, with social space and the forms of our lives following suit. Williamsburg, despite any pretensions to being “alternative”, is no different.
Bedford, with its hip boutiques, eco-friendly stores and music and bookshops specializing in “what’s now”, offers little outside of consumption and fails as a viable alternative to the status quo.
Further, the massive construction of condominiums, rent hikes and an inundation of police patrols is rapidly transforming the social space we are a part of. This is shaping our movements and actions so that they are more in line with the drive for profit, creating a veritable prison-mall.
It’s time for us to retake space and transform it in a way that suits us. This party is but a small attempt to do that, to seize space and retool it for our own purposes.
We need this, do you?
these people are f-ing retards.
"seize space and retool it for our own purposes"
I hope the police beat the Sh*t out of all of them.
these people are f-ing retards.
"seize space and retool it for our own purposes"
I hope the police beat the Sh*t out of all of them.
So a bunch of people who don't even live here come over here to raise hell, not apparently knowing that there's been a huge spike in viloent crime here, shootings, stabbings, machete slashings, etc. and there a million cops around here
They start calling the cops names and throwing bottles at them? They're lucky to be alive, idiots. Why don't these bored little rich brats do this shit in their own damn neighborhoods and leave us alone?
They're like a lame version of annon.
the "spoiled rich brats" who did this have lived in the city their whole lives. there have been street parties in new york forever, but much less so since guiliani and bloomberg. i know you haven't lived here that long, so you wouldn't remember those days, but we do.
I hate what has happened to Williamsburg in the past few years, but getting loaded and marching around acting like dicks isn't going to change a God damn thing
.
Talk about needing to get a life...did any one of them realize that if they pay taxes...how were the cops & firemen getting paid? & probably overtime ! Try being positive in life & not negative.
Someone flaming on a blog is telling someone else to get a life? You must be a hipster, because clearly you love irony.
Posting sht online doesn't change a godamn thing either.
Street parties going on here forever? you've got to be kidding me. I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen anything like this nonsense. huge Groups of people walking around wherever and whenever they choose with no regard for anyone else. waaa, they couldn't do what they wanted to do without the man coming down on them, waaa. and enough with the before Guiliani. if you liked trannies, junkies et al in runnin around places like Times Square then jump in your delorean, hit 88 and go have a roving street party. cops would have been the least of your worries.
good day.