Michael Premo is an artist who lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He played a significant role in

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...

and

Occupy Sandy Occupy may refer to: * ''Occupy'' (book), a 2012 short study of the Occupy movement by Noam Chomsky * Occupy movement, an international protest that began in New York See also * * Occupancy Within the context of building construction and bu ...

's hurricane response effort.

Work

On October 30, 2012, one day after

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

hit the New York region, Premo and three friends drove to the Red Hook Initiative and subsequently created Occupy Sandy after posting a note on Inner Occupy. Sandy Storyline, a participatory documentary co-directed by Premo, grew out of the Occupy Sandy relief effort to collect and share stories about the impact of Hurricane Sandy on neighborhoods, communities and lives. ''Sandy Storyline'' won the inaugural Transmedia award at the 2013

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

. Also in 2012, Premo was an organizer in New York for Occupy Our Homes, which protested at housing auctions to support those affected by a foreclosure crisis during that era. In March 2013, Premo was found not guilty in the first jury trial stemming from an Occupy Wall Street protest. Premo was arrested on December 17, 2011 and charged with assaulting an

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

officer. Prosecutors argued and the arresting officer gave sworn testimony that Premo "charged the police like a linebacker, taking out a lieutenant and resisting arrest so forcefully that he fractured an officer's bone." The defense located a video taken by freelancer Jon Gerberg which contradicted the sworn testimony, instead showing officers "tackling

remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and hardware. History Drummer and founder Re ...

as he attempted to get back on his feet." Prosecutors claimed no video of Premo's arrest existed, yet the Gerberg video clearly showed an NYPD officer also filming Premo's arrest. One author wrote that "information provided by the NYPD in the trial was fabricated to such a degree that the allegations made by the police officers have turned out to be quite literally the opposite of what actually happened." In 2017, Premo directed a 22-minute film, titled ''Water Warriors.'' The film showed at the Tribeca Festival in April 2017. The film had its U.S broadcast premiere on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

by POV

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Premo, Michael Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Occupy Wall Street American political activists People from Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn