A group of approximately 30 people from Occupy Tampa were escorted from two different Bay area malls on Saturday for protesting in advocacy for the release of Bradley Manning, the 25-year-old Army private currently jailed for his alleged role in the release of classified information to the website WikiLeaks. Calling the demonstrations Flash Mobs, the group appeared at West Shore Plaza and International Plaza in Tampa. During their brief protests they wore masks with the face of Manning, handed out pamphlets denouncing arrests for whistle blowing, and recited a scripted dialog loudly, calling attention to their message from both passersby and mall security. They were escorted off of the premises by security officers at West Shore Plaza and both Tampa Police Department and security members at International Plaza.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2013.