Somewhere in NYC, a cop is listening to an angry short artist in heels spewing obscenities in four different languages #freemollycrabapple
— Warren Ellis (@warrenellis) September 17, 2012
Artist Molly Crabapple was arrested during Occupy Wall Street anniversary protests today. She recorded the incident on Twitter. UPDATE: She has been released, tweeting a photo and this message: “There are other brave people in jail now who are going to need #jailsupport too.”
The arrest of the Marvel and DC Comics artist instantly earned responses from writers online, getting online support from Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis and journalist Laurie Penny. Ellis even launched a #freemollycrabapple hashtag on Twitter. Crabapple recently used Kickstarter to fund Shell Game, an political work inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Here’s more from Ellis: “Interestingly, what evidently happens is that NYPD insisted everyone get on the pavement, and once they were on the pavement they were arrested. What I am pleased about is that Molly’s arrest wasn’t one of the violent ones – because nobody in the NYC power structure gives a s*** about sending the message that they will beat non-violent protestors to show how devoted they are to preserving the peace of breakfast in the financial district – and that, frankly, she gets to see the inside of a black maria and a cop shop. Because that is going to give her a wealth of new stuff to draw angry, in the mode of her Shell Game pieces.”