THE PHOTOSYNTH PROJECT EXCLUSIVE: RAW FOOTAGE OF PROTESTERS ARRESTED IN CITIBANK FOR CLOSING THEIR ACCOUNTS ON OCTOBER 15, 2011.

THIS FOOTAGE WAS PERSONALLY HANDED OVER TO THE PHOTOSYNTH PROJECT BY ONE OF THE “WE ARE THE 99%” OCCUPY WALL STREET PROTESTERS.

We’ll call him V. V has requested that he remain anonymous from this point forward. V is responsible for filming this footage. On October 15, 2011 he was arrested, along with more than a handful of others for walking into a Citibank and simply requesting their accounts be closed. These protesters were unjustly LOCKED INSIDE CITIBANK, and held captive until police came to arrest them. Arrest them for their beliefs and their rights. All in all, this was a peaceful protest.

V now has a criminal record at age 20 that could possibly effect his job situation and WILL affect his future. This is V’s story as told to The PhotoSynth Project’s Ana Lola Roman on October 17, 2011:

I was at the protest the night before. I attended drum circles, general assembly everything. I felt I should explore the protests another day because I wanted to gain the whole experience.

I got up early the next morning, and I went to Washington Square Park to meet up with other protesters. This was at 1:30. We decided to go to two banks instead of one. We decided to go to Chase and Citibank. We wanted to make our voices heard, only with respect. We did not try to be confrontational. That was a big goal for us, to remain peaceful.

We had no idea we would be arrested.

Before we walked into the banks, we wrote down legal numbers, just in case of police brutality. Again, none of us thought we would be arrested for what we were doing.

Little did we know that when we walked in, there would be an undercover officer. Well, there was. Of course he was in plain clothes. I did not know he was an undercover officer until he was closing the door, when the bank decided to lock us in. He was the loudest, cheering everyone on. He was standing right next to me.

We were asked to leave multiple times by bank employees, but we knew under law that an officer would have to come and ask us to leave. Until that happened, we kept on with our peaceful protest.

(The video above is approximately 11:00 minutes. As you view above, you will clearly see a peaceful protest taking place. This is what happened after the duration of 11 minutes)

Our protest was cut off. All of the sudden we were told that they were closing doors. They refused to let us out and told us that we were under arrest. Then, of course, we told them that this was illegal.

They pushed a few protesters, including an elderly protester. Two people were able to get out but the undercover cop who was dressed in regular clothing pushed them back in. A crowd started gathering outside. The cops started taking protester signs. For the record, I just want to say that there was absolutely NO VANDALISM inside this Citibank, near it, or around it. There has been slander in the media against us, saying that we did engage in vandalism. This is false.

(The protesters where locked inside Citibank and then rounded up by officers. At some point during the commotion they were led outside and shipped to  1 Police Plaza in downtown NYC.)

We were put in line.  They used flexi-grip handcuffs and handcuffed the females first. There was a transsexual and the cops decided to put her with the males. They then cuffed the males up and put the males in a separate truck.

They drove us to 1 Police Plaza. Let me just say this much, it’s not used anymore, it’s used as a training facility by White Shirt Cops who are actually paid by the banks. I learned this while I was in holding.  I was arrested at 2:30. I wasn’t put into a cell until four pm and did not get out until 8:30 pm Sunday.

While we were in holding, they took Polaroids, and the arresting officer started to do paper work. We were actually joking with these cops, I talked to a lot of them and they said it was wrong. Some of them actually supported what we were doing. But I understand that this is their job. Some of them are secretly a part of the 99%.

After processing we were searched and then put into holding. I was told by my arresting officer that this would be a short process and I would be gone within the day. They informed us that this process would take only a couple of hours.

While we were in the cell, we realized that they were purposely taking a long time with our paper work. Time just wore on. We informed by legal help that were being held up because the head of Occupy Wall Street Police Repression wanted to keep us there longer to make an example of us.

We were also informed by our legal help, the NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, that Citibank called multiple times with complaints, which delayed our paperwork.

After about 4-5 hours we realized we were staying over night. We were told that the courts were open until 11:00 PM on the weekends but our paperwork didn’t get processed until 10:45 PM. During this time we had actual mug shots taken. We had fingerprints taken. We also had a retina scan. A few declined to take the retina scan but they didn’t tell us whether we could decline or not. After that point, and after all the paper work was done, we were moved to another holding cell in Corrections, which was an entirely different building. Of course this was at 10:45 PM.

WE EXITED IN CHAIN-LINK CUFFS on the way to the Corrections Facility. There, we were checked once again and searched all over again. Then after that we were put into another holding cell with other prisoners. Most of these people were other protesters arrested around Times Square.

We were made to sleep there. There were no beds. There was only a floor and some benches. I slept on one of the corner edges. There was one corrections officer who said “Okay I’m off work now, I’m going to the bar to get drinks, can all of you pitch in so I can get drinks on you guys?” I could not believe it.

(The Next Day: Sunday, October 16, 2011)

The next day we were moved into holding cells near the courthouse, a FELONY courthouse. They used it because it was bigger. On Sunday, at 1:00 PM we talked to our lawyers. We had to wait until 1:00 PM, only because legal aid is allowed in at that time. Then after we spoke to our legal aid, we were put in a separate pen.

Then they decided to slow the process even more. It was delayed another couple of hours. At this point it was around 4:30-5:00 PM. Then we got wind that the court goes to lunch at 5 and doesn’t reconvene until 6.30. So we had to wait longer because the court was on it’s lunch break.

The corrections officer told us point blank “THIS IS ALL POLITICS. YOU GUYS KNOW THIS IS POLITICS AND THEY ARE DOING THIS TO MAKE A POINT, PLUS AN EXAMPLE OUT OF YOU. I FULLY SUPPORT WHAT YOU ARE DOING. BUT I DON’T KNOW WHEN YOU WILL BE SEEN, HOPEFULLY BY TODAY.”

We were not seen until 8:15 PM. The whole trial took 5 minutes.  We all plead not guilty. Then as we left we tried to get our stuff back, but 1 Police Plaza is closed on Sundays so I had to retrieve stuff today (Monday, October 17, 2011). I retrieved my cell phone, keys, and other miscellaneous items.

Finally, I was charged with Misdemeanor of criminal trespassing and trespassing. I officially have a criminal record. - V.

V, along with other protesters have shared there stories via other sources. GAWKER and THE VILLAGE VOICE have done their best to cover the stories as much as possible, but The PhotoSynth Project has gained first exclusive of this video. Here, at The PhotoSynth Project we are proud to publish V’s video, at this time in history. Thank You, V.

Posted by Ana Lola Roman for The PhotoSynth Project