By Marina Lopes
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A local filmmaker has set the NYPD's raid of Zuccotti Park and the dramatic events that followed it on Tuesday to music — Frank Sinatra's iconic "New York, New York."
Casey Neistat, star of the HBO series, "The Neistat Brothers," set footage he shot beginning during the early morning raid and throughout the day of the NYPD lifting handcuffed protesters off the ground and stuffing them into police vans to Sinatra's song, which celebrates the "city that never sleeps."
"Sinatra's New York, New York is the ultimate celebration of New York City," Neistat said in an email. "The whimsy the song provided was a perfect juxtaposition for the harshness of the visuals."
Neistat said he went to Zuccotti Park as soon as he heard the police were evicting the protesters on Tuesday morning. He shot the raid and subsequent chaos at the park for 18 hours and was one of the first people allowed back into the park when it reopened at 6 p.m.
"Throughout the day I empathized more with the police then the protesters," he wrote. "A lot of the anger was directed at the police officers personally which is nonsensical, something I found frustrating."
In the video, the escalating tension between police and protesters culminates in a brawl when one protester tries to plant the American flag in a Zuccotti Park bush as Sinatra sings, “It's up to you, New York, New York.“
