People v. Pesola

OPINION OF THE COURT

Lynn R. Kotler, J.

On March 17, 2012, the defendant was arrested in connection with police response to protest activities regarding Occupy Wall Street (OWS). Defense counsel explains in his affirmation that

*571“OWS has changed the national conversation about the economy and the state of our political system. As mainstream media voices have acknowledged, [OWS] ‘embodies a national frustration with broken democratic institutions.’ [OWS] has ‘lofted the issue of inequality onto our national agenda’ and the voices of [OWS] resonate ‘around the globe’ ” (citations omitted).

The…