Occupy Wall Street Still Alive; Protesters Demonstrate Against NDAA at Grand Central (VIDEO)

By Michael Nunez | January 04 2012 3:56 PM

Occupy Wall Street is far from dead, though it's also far from Wall Street at this point. On Tuesday evening, as the temperature in New York touched down to 13 degrees, about 100 demonstrators gathered in the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal. The demonstrators used Grand Central as a place to voice their opposition to the newly enacted National Defense Authorization Act.

Reuters

Protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement hold a protest inside of Grand Central Station in New York, January 3, 2012.

Sponsorship Link

The bill has been fiercely criticized for the broad powers it grants the government to arrest and detain accused terrorists. President Barack Obama signed the bill on New Year's Eve, although he released an official signing statement stating his opposition to many details of the bill.

The fact that I support this bill as a whole does not mean I agree with everything in it, says the written statement. In particular, I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.

Several protesters at Grand Central placed black bags over their heads, a direct reference to prisoners tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The infamous site has become a favorite reference among protesters for its well-documented human rights violations.

The NDAA is a 682-page bill that detail appropriations for fiscal year 2012 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes. To view the NDAA, click here.