Citibank Account Holders Arrested For Closing Accounts

My view is that people must never get involved in the movement whatever Occupy BS
because it's being masterminded by the elites (CIA, Mossad, etc)
■ to so-called give a voice to the people and
■ to divert attention from government financial and foreign policies problems

This is a hoax in my opinion as the title is very misleading. People arrested for closing their accounts, huh? Interesting because I closed mine and am certainly not in jail, wasn't harassed, wasn't even questioned. Instead, "here's your balance...have a nice day" was all that happened.

People were arrested for stepping outside the guidelines of protest. Just because we have the right to protest doesn't mean we have the right to cause disruption and chaos.

Video is amazing, they pulled that woman back into the bank. She had a bank account with them, I wonder if they let her close it or not.

reply to post by lpowell0627


That's what I got out of it too. People weren't arrested because they wanted to close out accounts, it seems to me based on the video they were arrested for interrupting and obstructing business within the bank.

No one has the right to do this and what does it have to do with peaceful protest? Many of the OWS might have the best of intentions but they are taking very poor advice from someone/s

I can freely enter any grocery store to purchase items, UNTIL I step on the rights of others shopping who are trying to do the same thing.

They have much to learn about protest.

Citibank's Official Response:

A large amount of protesters entered our branch at 555 La Guardia Place around 2:00 PM today. They were very disruptive and refused to leave after being repeatedly asked, causing our staff to call 911. The Police asked the branch staff to close the branch until the protesters could be removed. Only one person asked to close an account and was accommodated.

To be clear: no one was arrested for closing an account; we didn't lock people in our branch - the police decided to close the branch; and we didn't ask for anyone to be arrested - that is a police decision.

I'm going to assume for the moment that the truth of this incident lies somewhere between the OP and the official statement. More as I research...

OWS is starting to turn uglier...

TheRedneck

ETA:
Rawstory reports the woman arrested in the videos was not a protester:

Video has surfaced of NYPD police arresting Occupy Wall Street protesters for allegedly removing their money out of a Citibank branch. In addition, an arrest of a non-protester is shown in the video yelling, “What are you doing, what are you doing” as police took her into custody.

TheRedneck

My guess is civil rights/political groups are advising such shenanigans to increase arrests made to garner more air time and support.

Once again I feel the sincere protestors are being played by TPTB

Anyone arrested that felt they had the right to disrupt business in the bank or to interfere with other citizen's attempts to utilize bank services has much to learn about what exactly their rights are...AND are NOT

reply to post by TheRedneck


I watched the same clip and the woman in question was telling protesters inside that she had already called for legal help.She also told man standing inside to make sure and get everyones names.Sounds like she was in charge of protest.These people (OWS) are not looking out for the general well being of us US Citizens.If they were wanting to stand by our US Constitution they would be protesting at ALL politicians homes. No one forces the dems or repubs to accept campaign contributions from banks and etc. Its not the banks fault that they are so easily bribed. We need to do away with the dem and repug labels and start looking at the quality and background of the people we are electing.

reply to post by Cinaed

So far, my opinion, we had a bank full of scared employees, a large number of people wanting to conduct business (which can include closing an account), and a police department looking for an excuse. If I had to guess at this point what actually happened, it would be that CitiBank had a large number of customers enter during the OWS movement; bank employees were afraid that the bank would become disruptive; someone called 911 with a complaint that probably included the words "protest", "occupied", and "threatening"; police told bank security to close the bank to prevent any further problems until they arrived; security guards (probably the ones who called the cops in the first place) took it upon themselves to 'contain the scene' and locked the 'protesters' inside; bank customers were thereby detained for nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time and became angry; protesters saw the actions and assumed it was an intentional move by their targets, further antagonizing the situation; police arrived to an already out-of-control situation which they had expected; anyone who happened to be in the area and did not comply fully and immediately with anything spoken, irregardless of reason or even realization of such, was arrested; the protesters then got a boon because thousands of people will see this and believe it is exactly what they want it to be: a violation of rights by the money-hungry banks with consequences only to those 'innocents' involved.

Expect more of this, and expect each incident to worsen.

TheRedneck

Isn't wall street in itself a business. You can buy and sell goods (stocks) and money gets exchanged so its safe to say wall street is on big business.

So why isn't everyone being arrested. Its a BS tactic on the banks because they are scared. The pressure needs to be put on more. We are reaching a boiling point and sooner or later the lid is going to pop off.

Its a power trip and if people can't see that some of these laws are made to be against us and not for us then your blind.

The Gov't protects the money not the people anymore.......... WAKE UP its a farse, its not a hoax.

I hope this fuels the fire and this movement goes to the next level.

reply to post by ohioriver

What I saw was the woman 'narrating' the video was not the one being arrested. The one arrested was standing outside the doors arguing with two other men alongside a fourth man. The first words I can make out of her confrontation is one of her 'accusers' saying "You were inside with everyone else", to which she responded "I am a customer" while holding up papers (I assume financial documents as proof of her status). She then was pushed away by the other 'accuser' and tried to walk away, at which point she was grabbed by the first 'accuser', leading to her arrest.

I can see this as going either way: perhaps she was a protester trying to stir the pot, or perhaps she was a customer trying to conduct business. Either way, her arrest will be fodder for growing violence.

Until I see more information, I will go along with "innocent until proven guilty". CitiBank is a business and has obligations to their customers, one of which is to provide certain services during normal business hours.

ETA:
reply to post by Idotwhat

Read my signature.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck

I think you are absolutely right that it will continue, and continue to escalate....shades of Kent State keep coming to mind

I was pretty young but that incident deeply impacted me. I don't think anyone wants a repeat of that day, especially those of us who remember it.... I fear that is where this protest is heading though.

What a harsh awakening such an event would be for those sincere about their participation in the protest

This is on another thread. Watched again, she was clearly outside the bank, not blocking the enterance. They were mad and pumped up and didn't care she was going, they showed their true colors.

reply to post by Cinaed

The difference may well be written in the history books one day that at Kent State, the massacre ended after the shooting, but at OWS it did not. That is my biggest concern. I once read something that this reminds me of:

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Oh, wait, I do remember where I read that...

The Declaration of Independence.

TheRedneck

reply to post by wisdomnotemotion


Stop spreading false information. They didn't get arrested for closing their account. Prove they did. They got arrested for disturbing the peace. You can't storm a bank and make a scene, bank account or not you have to follow the rules.
This ows movement is stupid wouldn't surprise me if it turn into riots.
From what I've seen so far ows are not peaceful and they are stepping on the rights of the people who don't want to be involved in that city.

reply to post by TheRedneck

I hope for everyone's sake we are both wrong about this I think the saddest part is this protest is a sincere acknowledgement something is very wrong and needs to be corrected, however they are continuously being more and more hijacked and TPTB are exploiting not only their passion but their naivety as well. Really pisses me off, our youth are the future!

I have watched a good bit of footage at this point and I see a mix of pretty effective protest and others totally dancing to the tune of their infiltrators.... its a volatile mix that can't keep on without coming to a head

reply to post by Idotwhat


Wall Street is an area in a business district and those protesting on public sidewalks and/or areas designated to them are well within their right to protest peacefully. The moment they take the protest inside a business they step over the line.

It think it is really as simple as that. What I would like to see is footage of what transpired INSIDE the bank!

reply to post by ThirdI

Prove they disturbed the peace.

Surely the bank videos are available (please don't say there aren't any or the cameras were not functioning, etc).

That should tell the tale completely.

If Citibank was justified, the tape should show it, if not, they can be sued for false imprisonment, kidnapping, and filing a false police report, among other things.

My guess is no tape will show up, because ultimately it is a case of incompetent management. If the bank manager had known his business and performed his duty, he or she should have been able to address the crowd, acknowledge their complaints, and allowed them to close their accounts. Obviously, that wasn't done.

No matter what else flows from this, the bank manager and assistant manager should both be fired for cause. Their handling of the matter was clearly incompetent.

reply to post by apacheman

I think if the footage is withheld the excuse will be it is evidence in the pending cases of those arrested. It would seem to me though some cameras outside the windows would have gotten something that transpired inside.

Time will tell

reply to post by ThirdI

Yes, you are right: they were probably arrested for the formal charge of either 'disturbing the peace' or 'interfering with a police officer'. There is no law prohibiting the closing of a bank account.

But you are missing the bigger picture. If a large group of people happen to all wish to close their bank accounts at the same time, could such an action be considered 'disturbing the peace'? A person on any type of legitimate business is allowed to enter the premises of the bank with which the business is done. If I want to close my account, the contractual obligations of the bank I use allow me to enter and peaceably withdraw my funds during normal banking hours, with the single common-sense stipulation that the bank must have sufficient notice to have funds on hand if the amount is large enough to warrant such.

If I have a check from a bank customer made out to me, I am allowed inside the bank during normal business hours to negotiate said financial instrument.

Unless the contract under which the accounts at CitiBank are operated state that depositors may be detained within the bank based on the number of people present (which I doubt), this video is damning evidence of mistreatment of customers. If I had any cash in CitiBank (which I obviously do not, as I have a habit of not dealing with crooks), this video would make me want to go right out and withdraw every penny at the earliest possible opportunity, and probably do so from the relative safety of an ATM if that were a viable option. I can only assume CitiBank customers who see this video over the weekend will no doubt have the same feelings as I would have.

Monday could be an interesting day for CitiBank nationwide. We will get to see firsthand how many people bought the story spread in these videos.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck

I guess the telling of the tale will be were those arrested just a large number of customers showing up with bad timing that frightened employees, or were they protestors entering not as a customer to conduct simple legal business but instead protestors crossing the line to create disruption and target a focus of their anger?

I'm certainly going to be watching this one