King George the Third #Occupy Wall St

[Bluenorthwest]

The occupation of Wall Street began at Bowling Green Park in NYC. This is a place with a long, long history of protest.
In 1770 the British installed a two ton gilded lead statue of George the Third in Bowling Green. He was sitting on a horse and dressed as a Roman, no less. The statue was continually defaced. Then came 'the Bowling Green Protests' and anti graffiti laws to protect George. The British installed a cast iron fence around Bowling Green to protect the statue, the posts topped with decorative crowns.
July 9, 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was read in public where City Hall now stands, people ran down Broadway and tore that statue down. They also hacked the crown finials off the fence, each and every one of them. The fence still stands, and you can still see where they hacked the crowns off.
The head of the statue of George the Third was removed and paraded about town. They say the bulk of it was sent to Connecticut to be made into bullets for patriot guns. There are a few pieces of the statue in museums in NY and in CT.
Even the famous 'Charging Bull' statue was installed illegally, unannounced in the middle of the night by the artist who made it. 7,000 pounds, so quite a little project that. The Bull was in fact removed and placed in Police impound and finally replaced due to public outcry. Last I heard the Bull was still there under a temporary permit, the city does not even own it.
Just some history of the set and setting. I'm no expert, so if I got a bit wrong or left something out, I'd not be surprised. I remembered much of this from being a tourist, and just reread the wikis really quiki. But it is interesting stuff, no?
I like the resonance of the place, and the fact is, protest was there long before the stock market was there.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. ...

:thumbsup: