Court Allows 'Occupy Wall Street' Protesters to Return to Park Following Arrests, Eviction by Police

A clean sweep of 'occupy' squatters.

Hundreds of
police officers in riot gear before dawn Tuesday raided the New York
City park where the Occupy Wall Street protests began, evicting and
arresting dozens of protesters from what has become the epicenter of the
worldwide movement with other cities, such as Dallas and London likely
to follow suit.

Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild
obtained a court order allowing the protesters to return with their
tents to the park, where they have camped for two months. The guild said
the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on the
protesters who are now looking for squatters rights, despite park rules
banning camping overnight.

At a morning news conference, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg said the evacuation was conducted in the middle of the night
"to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize
disruption to the surrounding neighborhood."


Hundreds of police officers surrounded the
park overnight in riot gear, holding plastic shields and batons that
were used in some cases on protesters. Police flooded the park with
klieg lights and used bull horns to announce that everyone had to leave.


Police "had their pepper spray out and were ready to use it," said protester Jake Rozak.


About 70 people were arrested overnight,
including some who chained themselves together. Others chanted or
shouted angrily at police and vowed to march in protest.


Bloomberg said the city knew about the court
order but had not seen it and would go to court to fight it. He said
the city wants to protect people's rights, but if a choice must be made,
it will protect public safety.


By 9 a.m., the park was power-washed clean
by sanitation workers. Police in riot gear ringed the public space,
waiting for orders to reopen it.
The city told protesters they could come
back after the cleaning, but under new tougher rules, including no
tents, sleeping bags or tarps, which would effectively put an end to the
encampment if enforced.


"The law that created Zuccotti Park required
that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours
a day," Bloomberg said. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has
not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protesters,
making it unavailable to anyone else."


Concerns about health and safety issues at
Occupy Wall Street camps around the U.S. have intensified, and
protesters have been ordered to take down their shelters, adhere to
curfews and relocate so that parks can be cleaned.


In Dallas, a hearing will be held Tuesday to
determine if Occupiers there will continue to be allowed to camp out in
front of City Hall, according to MyFoxDFW.com


City officials originally allowed the
protesters to stay on city property through December, so long as they
followed certain rules, but they violated them by using City Hall
bathrooms and leaving protest signs, along with other transgressions,
according to the news site.


In London, where nearly 200 tents have been
pitched in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral for a month, authorities said
they were pursuing legal action to evict the occupiers after talks had
stalled.


Back in New York, hundreds of former
Zuccotti Park residents and their supporters marched along Lower
Manhattan before dawn Tuesday.


Some paused and locked arms outside the
gates of City Hall but left peacefully when police in riot gear
appeared. About 300 to 400 kept moving along the sidewalks.


Some were chanting, "This is what democracy looks like."


Others chanted: "Hey, hey, ho, ho, our billionaire mayor has got to go."


At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, New York City
police handed out notices from Brookfield Office Properties, owner of
Zuccotti Park, and the city saying that the park had to be cleared
because it had become unsanitary and hazardous.


Paul Browne, a spokesman for the New York
Police Department, said the park had been cleared by 4:30 a.m. and that
about 70 people who'd been inside had been arrested, including a group
who chained themselves together. One person was taken to a hospital for
evaluation because of breathing problems.


Police in riot gear filled the streets, car
lights flashing and sirens blaring. Protesters, some of whom shouted
angrily at police, began marching to two locations in Lower Manhattan
where they planned to hold rallies.


Ben Hamilton, 29, said he was arrested "and I was just trying to get away" from the fray.
Rabbi Chaim Gruber, an Occupy Wall Street member, said police officers were clearing the streets near Zuccotti Park.


"The police are forming a human shield, and are pushing everyone away," he said.


Notices given to the protesters said the
park "poses an increasing health and fire safety hazard to those camped
in the park, the city's first responders and the surrounding community."


It said that tents, sleeping bags and other
items had to be removed because "the storage of these materials at this
location is not allowed." Anything left behind would be taken away, the
notices said, giving an address at a sanitation department building
where items could be picked up.


Alex Hall, 21, said police walked into the park "stepping on tents and ripping them out."


Elsewhere in the U.S., anti-Wall Street
activists intend to converge at the University of California, Berkeley
on Tuesday for a day of protests and another attempt to set up an Occupy
Cal camp, less than a week after police arrested dozens of protesters
who tried to pitch tents on campus.


The Berkeley protesters will be joined by
Occupy Oakland activists who said they would march to the UC campus in
the afternoon. Police cleared the tent city in front of Oakland City
Hall before dawn Monday and arrested more than 50 people amid complaints
about safety, sanitation and drug use.


Protestors in Portland, Oregon, who were
evicted from Chapman and Lownsdale Square parks this past weekend have
vowed to setup a new encampment elsewhere in the city, according to Fox
Affiliate KPTV.
Source

This is moving too slow...Seems like its not getting anywhere...OWS needs its own media to get the truth out as well imo.

GangusKahn wrote:This is moving too slow...Seems like its not getting anywhere...OWS needs its own media to get the truth out as well imo.

Occupy wall street may not be amazing, but they have thousands of people at it. It's also not there fault that the media doesnt report on them due to the fact that the media is paid for by the people who they're protesting! Who by the way when they do report on them they only ridicule. It also stretched into other citys including ones in Canada. Occupy Oakland though is a big deal. For example there were anywhere between 70,000 to 100,000 people marching and the media (fox news) reported it was something like 10,000 and then painted them all as violent thugs. Which other news outlets where more than happy to contribute to. My point is you can't blame it on the protestors.

JoshE35 wrote:

GangusKahn wrote:This is moving too slow...Seems like its not getting anywhere...OWS needs its own media to get the truth out as well imo.

Occupy wall street may not be amazing, but they have thousands of people at it. It's also not there fault that the media doesnt report on them due to the fact that the media is paid for by the people who they're protesting! Who by the way when they do report on them they only ridicule. It also stretched into other citys including ones in Canada. Occupy Oakland though is a big deal. For example there were anywhere between 70,000 to 100,000 people marching and the media (fox news) reported it was something like 10,000 and then painted them all as violent thugs. Which other news outlets where more than happy to contribute to. My point is you can't blame it on the protestors.

You dont gotta preach to me about it, I follow it...and its a lot more than "thousands" man....They are already in over 1000 CITIES world wide. I'm just saying that by this point more should have been said and done....There just gonna let people camp out forever, that's easier then shutting down the Fed...Know what I mean? Its gonna get ugly one way or another...someone just needs to stir this up a little more to make something actually HAPPEN!