OLBERMANN: Let's start our coverage today with more on today's Occupy New York march. Adam Gabbatt, the reporter for The Guardian newspaper, it's good to have you, sir.
ADAM GABBATT: Thank you.
OLBERMANN: Give me your read on what we know, at this hour, of events at Brooklyn Bridge. Is there any reliable reporting on what size that crowd was?
GABBATT: Some colleagues of mine -- who I have been reporting with for the last couple of weeks -- have said that people are still continuing over the bridge. Last I was there, it was about ten to seven, and the crowd, then, was backed up all the way from bridge back to Foley Square.
OLBERMANN: Goodness.
GABBATT: That is about -- It must be getting towards a kilometer or -- as I should say -- two-thirds of a mile.
OLBERMANN: Thank you.
GABBATT: And thousands of people, literally thousands.
OLBERMANN: Is there any sense that anybody had an idea that the crowd would grow to these proportions tonight -- whether the protesters or the police? Because it certainly seems like the police reaction, in the last hour, has been more like, "Whoa! We are going to stand over to the side and get out of everybody's way."
GABBATT: I think the police had a huge presence. But I think they were surprised. And I am sure organizers were surprised as well. Occupy Wall Street -- in its preparation for today, in its press releases -- they did say they expected tens of thousands at Foley Square. But as a reporter, you sort of take these things at a pinch of salt. I was expecting maybe up to 10,000, but nothing like this. And the numbers this morning were, kind of, fairly small, what we have seen before. So, not small but -- you know, in the low thousands. But certainly, the numbers this afternoon were incredible. I think everyone involved was surprised.
OLBERMANN: You were at Zuccotti Park today for the violence there. Do you have an inkling as to -- actually -- what started that? We heard everything from batteries being thrown at police to, possibly, vinegar being thrown in the faces of police -- and you say, "How serious is that?" You don't know it's vinegar when it's thrown in your eyes. You have no idea what that -- It could be a caustic chemical, it could be something dreadfully serious. Other stories -- that this all began when that man knocked a police cap off a policeman's head. Any idea where the mayhem began?
GABBATT: It's always difficult to tell where the mayhem began. And sometimes, of course, it's better the next day -- as footage from so many citizen journalists, who are very helpful to reporters, and, of course, anyone who is wanting to read these riots -- these protests, sorry. But, in terms of how it started -- it's very difficult to get a sense.
I was close to it, but I was just around the corner. So, the first I saw was when I came back to Zuccotti Park. And of course, there's people walking around with blood over their faces, very dramatic scenes. As a police officer, if something is thrown in your eyes that stings, you are obviously not going it take that lightly and are going to be quite scared, I imagine. The knocking of the cap, if that proves to have been the cause, then -- clearly, that is not something that would provoke such a reaction, you would hope.
OLBERMANN: One would think not. Give me your assessment, from talking to people throughout the day. The size of the crowd -- and again, no one could have forecast what this was going to be tonight -- but does this originate solely from the idea of the raid the other night? Was that a tipping point in a way that, perhaps, certainly Mayor Bloomberg didn't understand -- as we're seeing the projection of the 99 percent logo on the side of one of the big bank buildings downtown this evening, an extraordinary thing that's being commented on by everybody who marches past that. That's the live helicopter shot. We don't have control over what it is. Was there -- did they -- were they multiplied by the fact that the camp was raided overnight the other night?
GABBATT: I think they absolutely were. We have seen this with camps before. I was in Oakland a couple of weeks ago, and their size for the general strike was buoyed by the fact that, kind of, they had action taken against them by police previously. And from speaking to people, some had traveled really quite a long way. I spoke to a couple of girls who had come from Virginia, where they had set up an Occupy camp in Norfolk, only 100 people. They'd caught a six-hour bus ride to be here at 6:00 am this morning and were leaving at 5:30 pm to go back to Norfolk to reoccupy their camp there.
OLBERMANN: Wow.
GABBATT: I mean -- obviously, not everyone came as far as that -- but it brought people out who might have been aware of the protest, might have been down once or twice, but really wanted to show their support. And, I think, what it shows is that -- while people might not necessarily have been involved at Zuccotti Park, involved in the actions -- there was, I think, a kind of underlying message of support from people -- from a lot of people -- in New York. And I think this has brought out, you know, a lot of new protesters to it.
OLBERMANN: Yeah, and as we are saying that -- look at the shot that we are seeing on our screen now, a series of the different locations being projected in that bright light against the wall of the building in downtown Manhattan, which I think says it all. I guess Mayor Bloomberg and the people he represents got what they wanted. They closed it down. It's not going to be an issue anymore. Occupy is done, isn't it?
Adam Gabbatt, the reporter for The Guardian newspaper, all over the place today. Great to have you on the program. And now, I guess, get back to work.
GABBATT: Thank you very much. I will.
OLBERMANN: Thank you, sir.
