A couple dozen subway performers gathered at the Metropolitan Avenue subway station in Williamsburg yesterday to protest what they say is illegal harassment by the NYPD. Gathered steps from an NYPD station house on the mezzanine level, performers, activists, and two NYC Councilmembers implored the NYPD to educate officers on the 
's rules of conduct, which does in fact permit "artistic performances."
"We're not asking for the laws to be changed here," Councilmember Steve Levin said. "The existing law is here to protect us. If this is 'broken windows,' I want no part of it." Levin also revealed that he tried to be a subway performer many years ago, before beginning his life as a public servant. "Nothing is more New York than our street performers. This is New York culture. To deny that is to deny who we are as New Yorkers."
The rally was organized after the arrest of guitarist Andrew Kalleen over the weekend at the same subway station. Kalleen was performing on the 
platform when an officer ordered him to disperse. Their ensuing debate was captured on video, and shows the officer reading the 's rules of conduct out loud, including the part that states that artistic performances of this nature are permitted. Then he arrests Kalleen anyway......
Want to read more, here's the link: http://gothamist.com/2014/10/22/subway_performers_sick_of_the_nypds.php