Three City Council members introduced a resolution Tuesday that would formalize support for Occupy Wall Street and its message condemning economic inequality.

“The Occupy movement is more than occupying a public square,” said Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, one of the resolution’s authors, along with Councilman Jumaane D. Williams and Councilwoman Letitia James — all Democrats. “It is about the frustration of the working class and the middle class who feel we have not received a fair share.”

The resolution describes a protest “fueled by disheartened New Yorkers” and calls on members to defend a peaceful approach to “the divisive economic and social realities facing our nation.”
Councilman Rodriguez said the resolution already had the support of 13 members, including the authors. He noted that councils in other cities, including Buffalo, Los Angeles and San Francisco, had presented similar resolutions of support in recent weeks.

Councilman Rodriguez and Councilman Williams were arrested during separate incidents this month in which they joined protesters in Lower Manhattan. On Nov. 15, shortly after the Zuccotti Park encampment had been evicted by police officers, Councilman Rodriguez was taken into custody a few blocks from the park, as demonstrators encountered barricades preventing them from reaching the park. Two days later, Councilman Williams was arrested as part of a group that sat down in the roadway at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge.

During his roughly 16 hours in custody, Councilman Rodriguez said, he missed an appointment at a school where he may try to send his young daughter. The councilman’s wife had issued just one warning when he left for Zuccotti Park in the middle of the night, he said: “Don’t get arrested.”

(Source: NY Times)