Protesting 'Grannys' Stage Quiet Performance Outside Lincoln Center

UPPER WEST SIDE — A star soprano sang at Lincoln Center on Tuesday night, but the most attention-grabbing performance of the evening was a silent one.

A few minutes before 7 p.m., anti-war group the Granny Peace Brigade quietly unfurled banners in front of Lincoln Center's famed fountain and held a silent vigil to protest war and its economic costs. 

No arrests were made at the peaceful demonstration, police said.

The protest attracted attention because it was listed as a "solidarity event" on Occupy Wall Street's website and a "sizable contingent" of Occupy Wall Streeters were expected to attend. The four dozen demonstrators were mostly members of Granny Peace Brigade.

Granny Peace Brigade member Jenny Heinz told DNAinfo before the protest that while the two groups respected and supported each other — three Grannys were reportedly arrested at Zuccotti Park recently — the Grannys had also made it clear they wanted a quiet demonstration, with no posters advocating other causes.

“We're not really wanting mish mosh of all different messages," said Heinz, a 67-year-old Upper West Sider. "We really want it to be focused on the issue that the Granny Peace Brigade has been focused on."

The group of women, many white-haired, formed six years ago when they were arrested after attempting to enlist in the military at the Times Square recruitment office. Since then, they've held regular anti-war demonstrations.

At Tuesday night's vigil, which marked the Grannys' sixth anniversary, members held signs declaring, "We stand for the right to peaceably assemble" and "Homeland Humanity." A throng of reporters surrounded them while police quietly monitored the scene from a distance.

The crowd that gathered around the vigil was an eclectic mix of Granny supporters, Occupy Wall Street fans, journalists, curiosty-seekers and theater and opera goers on their way to Lincoln Center performances.

Jon Logan, a 64-year-old resident of West 83rd Street, wasn't aware that Occupy Wall Streeters were expected at the event. He came to show support for the Grannys.

"The Grannys are the most wonderful thing around," Logan said. "They've been consistent witnesses for peace and for reminding people of what the real consequences of war are."

But Tatyana Pechiva, 26, came specifically to support the Occupy Wall Street protesters after a friend who's a security guard at Lincoln Center told her about the demonstration.

Pechiva, a make-up artist who grew up and still lives in Amsterdam Houses, the public housing project behind Lincoln Center, said she would join Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park if she didn't have to work.

"Lincoln Center — this speaks for itself," Pechiva said. "This screams wealthy. I think it's great they picked this place to demonstrate. That's the purpose, to shake people up. It raises eyebrows. This is what this community needs."

The vigil provoked a heated discussion between Kenny Mann, a 65-year-old Sag Harbor filmmaker who walked over to watch the protest after dinner near Lincoln Center, and Michael, a 36-year-old Wall Street banker who stumbled on the demonstration while waiting for his wife to join him at the Metropolitan Opera's performance of "Anna Bolena."

Michael, who didn't want his last name used, told Mann it was wrong to blame bankers for the 2008 mortgage meltdown and financial crisis. "It's not bankers who bought five houses and took out mortgages they couldn't afford, it's people," he said.

But Mann said she felt misled by the real estate, banking and mortgage industries, because she was told the value of her house would only increase as the years passed. Instead, it plummeted. Mann said she and others from well-off areas in Long Island had been "badly hit" by the economic downturn.

"My life's investment is worthless," Mann said. "Nobody can deny this is covering all ages and every strata of society. You don't have to be poor and black and in a ghetto. It's middle class, it's upper class."

But Michael said Occupy Wall Street's fury at financiers was misplaced and ill-informed. "It's a lot of sadness and anger, but no reason, just emotions," he said. "Everybody was greedy. You can't blame the casino that you lost."

Akhil, a 30-year-old employee of a "major media company" who declined to give his last name, attended the protest to stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. He said the Lincoln Center location resonated with him, and pointed to the nearby theater named after billionaire conservative David H. Koch.

"He is the enemy," Akhil said, adding that Koch and his brother are believed to have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to right wing political causes.

"No two people should have that much influence over politics. While he did a good thing in donating money for that theater, there's something improper about this whole system."

About an hour into the vigil, protesters said police were standing ready to arrest them at 8 p.m. But at 7:56 p.m. the Grannys' attorney, Norman Siegel, told demonstrators no one would be arrested. The Grannys broke their silence to cheer for Siegel.

"It would have been quite stupid of them to arrest people here," said 67-year-old Granny Peace Brigade member Susan Lee, a former WBAI radio host.

"Look at the ages of us. We're the target audience for Lincoln Center."