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Police Clear Zuccotti Park of Protesters
James Barron and Colin Moynihan, New York Times
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday defended his decision to clear the park in Lower Manhattan that was the birthplace of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, saying “health and safety conditions became intolerable” in the park where the protesters had camped out for nearly two months.
Mr. Bloomberg said the city had planned to reopen the park on Tuesday morning after the protesters’ tents and tarps had been removed and the stone steps had been cleaned. He said the police had already let about 50 protesters back in when officials received word of a temporary restraining order sought by lawyers for the protesters. He said the police had closed the park again until lawyers for the city could appear at a court hearing later in the morning.
“New York City is the city where you can come and express yourself,” the mayor said. “What was happening in Zuccotti Park was not that.” He said the protesters had taken over the park, “making it unavailable to anyone else.”
The mayor’s comments at a City Hall news conference came about seven hours after hundreds of police officers moved in to clear the park after warning that the nearly two-month-old camp would be “cleared and restored” but that demonstrators who did not leave would face arrest. The protesters, about 200 of whom have been staying in the park overnight, initially resisted with chants of “Whose park? Our park!”
(15 November 2011)
Court Order: City Can’t Keep Occupy Wall Street Protesters and Their Stuff Out of Zuccotti Park
Joe Kemp, Kerry Burke, Kerry Wills, Tina Moore & Tracy Connor, New York Daily News
Hours after baton-wielding cops cleared Occupy Wall Street protesters and their tents out of Zuccotti Park, a judge signed an order Tuesday saying the demonstrators can return with their stuff.
Mayor Bloomberg said the city was trying to clarify the restraining order signed by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings, a former civil liberties lawyer.
In the meantime, Zuccotti — which briefly reopened after a scrub-down — would be closed to the public, Bloomberg said.
Occupy Wall Street protesters had already moved to another public space, Duarte Square, at Canal St. and Sixth Ave., though it was unclear if they planned to set up camp there.
As a band of about 600 streamed in, cops ringed the plaza, but were pushed back by protesters.
One demonstrator got in the face of NYPD Chief of Department Joseph Esposito, shouting: “You have clearly lost this struggle. We’re asking you nicely, why don’t you leave us alone?”
(15 November 2011)
Did Bloomberg do Occupy Wall Street a favor?
Ezra Klein, Washington Post
… Members of Occupy Wall Street are furious. Protests are being planned at various sites throughout the day. But the truth is, Bloomberg might have just done Occupy Wall Street a favor.
Next week, temperatures are projected to dip down to the high 30s. Next month, they’re projected to dip into the mid-20s. The month after that, as anyone who has experienced a New York winter know, they’re going to fall even lower.
The occupation of Zuccotti Park was always going to have a tough time enduring for much longer. As the initial excitement wore off and the cold crept in, only the diehards — and those with no place else to go — were likely to remain. The numbers in Zuccotti Park would thin, and so too would the media coverage. And in the event someone died of hypothermia, or there was some other disaster, that coverage could turn. What once looked like a powerful protest could come to be seen as a dangerous frivolity.
In aggressively clearing them from the park, Bloomberg spared them that fate. Zuccotti Park wasn’t emptied by weather, or the insufficient commitment of protesters. It was cleared by pepper spray and tear gas. It was cleared by police and authority. It was cleared by a billionaire mayor from Wall Street and a request by one of America’s largest commercial real estate developers. It was cleared, in other words, in a way that will temporarily reinvigorate the protesters and give Occupy Wall Street the best possible chance to become whatever it will become next.
The question is what, if anything, comes next for Occupy Wall Street. The movement has already scored some big wins. As this graph by Dylan Byers showed, they have changed the national conversation. Income inequality is now a top-tier issue. Before Occupy Wall Street, it wasn’t.
And perhaps that will be the legacy of Occupy Wall Street. That would certainly be more than most protests achieve. If they are to go further, however, they are going to have to figure out a way to wield power in a more direct and directed form.
(15 November 2011)
Press Suppression at Occupy Wall Street Raid
Ben Doernbert (ed), Storify
Around 1:00am on Tuesday, November 15th, the NYPD moved in to clear Zuccotti Park of all protestors and equipment. Members of the press, both independent and mainstream, were systematically prevented from covering the story, and journalists with The New York Times and NPR were arrested.
… Violence by the NYPD against journalists was widely reported
New York Times Reporter Brian Stelter:
“I’m w/ a NY Post reporter who says he was roughed up by riot police as Zuccotti was cleared. He thinks violence was “completely deliberate.”
“Per @LindseyChrist, riot police didn’t distinguish between media & protesters. “They took a Post reporter and threw him in a choke hold.”
Brian Stelter
NY1 Education Reporter Lindsey Christ:
“Reporters/photogs being thrown to ground and pushed to wall if they get in front of the wrong officer. Other officers calm and polite.
(15 November 2011)
… Journalists from Village Voice, Mother Jones, Byline Beat, Brooklyn Ink, and the New York Observer confirmed that police were not interested in press credentials
“Me: “I’m press!” Lady cop: “not tonight” #ows
Rosie Gray
“Cops telling me not even media with press passes allowed inside
Josh Harkinson
“I’ve almost been arrested now twice even though I have repeatedly presented my press badge. Tonight, Gotham is on lockdown. #OWS
Weed Dude
“”I’m press,” I said. “Don’t care,” officer replied. #OWS
Andrew Katz
(15 November 2011)
Guardian (UK): . NYPD attempt media blackout at Zuccotti Park
