Daniel Medina, a tourist from Spain, posed in front of the bull statue. Protesters from the Rainforest Action Network scaled two 40-foot flagpoles behind the statue on Wall Street and hung a flag with “Foreclosed?” written on it. (Photos: Josh Haner/The New York Times) Tourists in the financial district hoping for a good picture of the famous bull statue got an extra treat this afternoon: two urban climbers sliding up flagpoles and draping an anti-Wall Street banner between them.
The event took place shortly after noon, and quickly drew a ring of onlookers with cameras around their necks to Bowling Green at the foot of Broadway. It also drew, just as quickly, the police, including Emergency Service Unit officers. The very same officers are among more than 400 who have been ordered to undergo retraining in dealing with disturbed people after last week’s fatal encounter with a man atop a 10-foot ledge in Bedford-Stuyvesant. An officer shot the man, Iman Morales, 35, with a Taser gun, and he fell to his death.
Today’s encounter went smoothly enough to resemble a training exercise. The protesters had used straps and harnesses to climb about 40 feet to affix their banner, an American flag with the word “Foreclosed?” spread across the red and white stripes, and a Web site address (www.dirtymoney.org) along the bottom.
The Rainforest Action Network organized the protest. Samantha Corbin, one of the climbers, said in a written statement before the climb, “It is time to stop the risky financial behavior that is now mortgaging our homes and our planet.” Anything she had to say atop the pole was drowned out by the spectators and traffic.
Other groups arrived, including the Green Party, Code Pink and Billionaires for Bush, but mostly everyone watched to see what would happen to the climbers.
Police officers arrested a protester, identified as Cy Waggoner.Officers strapped on their own harnesses and hard hats, and one, Shawn Soler, 32, leaned a ladder against Ms. Corbin’s pole and climbed up. He spent several minutes talking to Ms. Corbin, gesturing with his hands, occasionally nodding and shrugging and patting the pole with his gloved hand. Finally, Ms. Corbin lowered herself onto the ladder, unclipped her harness and climbed down to be handcuffed and placed in a police van.
The other climber, identified by organizers as Cy Waggoner, climbed down mostly by himself, using a ladder for the last 10 feet, and was similarly arrested. Onlookers cheered. The van drove away.
Officer Soler took off his hard hat and recalled his conversation up the pole. “Pretty much what I was doing was walking her through how I wanted her to come down in the safest possible way,” he said. “She was listening to me.”
The flag stayed up while officers waited for a crane to arrive. No one was to climb up and cut it down. “You don’t know how stable those poles are,” Officer Soler said.
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