NYPD Clears Out Wall Street Protesters
Hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear, descended on Zuccotti Park after midnight Tuesday in a surprise sweep of the Occupy Wall Street headquarters.
It comes just two days ahead of a massive planned demonstration Thursday marking the movement’s two-month anniversary.
Police handed out letters to protesters ordering them to temporarily evacuate the park, and campers were ordered to remove all their tents. Police claimed it was a health issue, and that the park needed to be inspected.
Protesters were told they will be allowed to return to the park in several hours, but without their property, which will be brought to a sanitation garage.
The Mayor’s Office tweeted in the 1 a.m. hour, “Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protesters can return after the Park is cleared.”
Some protesters have left but a large number have stayed behind. They chanted at police, “Whose park, our park.”
Police began moving closer to the remaining protesters who refused to leave the park, and dismantled tents, throwing them on to a pile with other debris.
A recorded announcement continues to play on loop, telling protesters they must temporarily vacate the park.
Sanitation worker have moved in to remove items from the park and place them on the sidewalk.
Police commissioner Ray Kelly was on the scene monitoring developments.
At least 40 arrests have been made so far. Some of the protesters who left the park formed crowds in streets around the park: at Broadway and Fulton, a crowd of 75 protesters formed.
Mayor Bloomberg last month tried to evacuate the park so that it could be cleaned. But the cleanup was ultimately postponed when protesters resisted, raising concerns about a showdown between police and the thousand-plus demonstrators camped out at the park.
The mandatory evacuation Tuesday comes just two days before a citywide demonstration planned for Nov. 17. Demonstrators were planning to march in front of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning, get on subway trains across all five boroughs in the afternoon, then rally near City Hall in the evening. Afterward, they were expected to march to area bridges.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the Stock Exchange will open on time and people will be able to get to work.
Bloomberg has recently gone back and forth between criticizing Occupy Wall Street and defending it, saying recently that protesters were largely law-abiding and did not bother anyone.
When he was asked Monday to address complaints of local business owners and residents about the Occupy encampment, Bloomberg, as he has been for the past few weeks, hedged on whether he planned to step in.
“We’ll take appropriate action when it’s appropriate,” he said.
Update 8:45 AM
A judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the city from enforcing rules of the plaza — like a ban on tents and tarps — that she said were published “after the occupation began.” Bloomberg said at a City Hall briefing that the city had planned to let people back into the park at 8 a.m. but decided to keep it closed while officials evaluated the order.
Both sides are due in court at 11:30 AM
Update 11:04 AM
Occupy Wall Street marcher Michael Glazer called New York Police to report that his Torah was destroyed when protesters were ordered to temporarily leave Zuccotti Park for cleaning.
Chaim Tovim
Clearing out the trash… of all sorts
Nisht Bronx Zoo. Zoocotti Zoo!
Zoocotti Park. It is a Zoo.
its about time
its about time Bloomberg took some action.
ANON
For people who are protesting against Wall Street and big government, where do they get their money to survive? Do they work? OR do they get money from the government they hate so much.
I think its time to stop these people, put them to work cleaning up the mess they made and then we can all get a good night’s rest.
eli ezagui
#1: speaking of cleaning out the trash we’re gonna move your family and your kind tooo to the dump
eat it
and our ghettos are not a ZOO?! pls respect that even one poor person in this world might just also be a JEW and then try imagine that this poor man was you and its your HOME that this army of brutal bullys are coming to destroy before they go back to the warm comfort of there own homes!
To 4
Even if the OWS protestors are unemployed it does not speak at all to the validity of their argument. You are using an Ad Hominem attack which is a logical fallacy.
Either way, most of them have jobs.
Sources – http://www.fastcompany.com/…
http://www.washingtonsblog….
bandwagon
Before you all get on this bandwagon
Someone told me that many of the people there
are trying to turn this into an anti-Jewish pogrom,
chanting all the usual anti-semitic garbage and lies.
To 8
Can you cite a source, or is it just hearsay?
To Bandwagon
Live video of the protest – http://www.livestream.com/o…
Milhouse
#6, the park is not their home! On the contrary, it is private property that they have been STEALING. They all have homes to go to, and nobody is destroying their homes. So what are you talking about?
#7, if they have jobs why aren’t they at them during the day? Your first link is not about these thugs but about visitors to a web site. The fact is that these are unproductive people who are demonstrating against the people who create all the wealth in the country.
Argumentum ad hominem is only a fallacy if there is an actual argument to counter; it’s not a fallacy when the topic is the person himself. The topic here is the occupiers, not the argument they make, because they don’t make an argument. They just demand that the government steal from those who produce and give them the proceeds. So it’s relevant that they themselves don’t produce much that is of value.
The bottom line is that communism is evil, it is anti-Torah, and the 7 mitzvos benei noach say that thieves deserve to be executed. And anyone who supports these communists does not belong on a frum site or in a frum community.
Cesspool
What idiot would bring a sefer Torah to that cesspool?!
Milhouse
You know what might really help the image of the Occupy movement? If they were, you know… a little less rapey. And they might try pooping on police cars a little less.
Wake up, people!
Just another step closer to a full-on Police State. History continues to repeat itself. No worries though. You can trust the government and the wall street eliets, because they’re doing a great job of running this country…. Running it into the ground, that is. Pfft! Wake up, people!
Milhouse
#14, Police state?! Because some trespassers were evicted from the private property they were imposing themselves on?! That’s what you call a police state? What right did they have to be there in the first place? Suppose I decide to occupy your home with 30 of my friends and we refuse to leave; what will you do about it, if not call the police?
#6
milhs id love for you to come to my house with your 30 freinds i’d batter you single handed and as i’m broke and homeless i’d do it on the streets gladly and publicty (someone gotta knock some sence into your kind! cus u know what u got a pea brain and its warped) you made comment #11 almost look like a come-back but then you go and show your true self again there with comment #13 just illustrating the muppet that you are anyway youcan all carry on being funny and really NASTY! but remember you are making youself into this kind of person and its up to you to live your life till oneday you reach a point where your in the “other mans shoes” and you shall see how quick you will learn to be more sensitive and remember while your laughing on your deathbeds that your still coming back for another life!
Milhouse
#16 In other words you’re a thug and you admit it. Go to gehenom. Quickly.
..
ehhh
#14 Wake up, people! to #16 Milhouse
#14 to #16 Milhouse, you and your friends are always welcome to come and stay in my house! We could daven and study and dance all day and all night!
As for these protesters…. Look at the Jasmine Revolution! Look at the EDSA Revolution(s) in the Philippines! Look at the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia! These all started with people gathering in a public place (be it privately owned/controlled or not) in order to voice their disapproval of the ruling elite.
If you’re against non-violent protesting, then … I suppose you’re doing alright in this blood-sucking economy and you probably think that everything in this country is just peachy! Are you okay with the status quo?
If that be the case, then … go ahead and side with the ruling elite and by all means crackdown hard on anyone who thinks otherwise!
Honestly! I can’t believe that given our dealings with the Goyim throughout history that any Jew would be against these disenfranchised and marginalized protesters expressing themselves via a good, old fashion sit-in.
How many times have I read articles on this website wherein people kvetch about the NYPD issuing parking tickets? I guess that’s only because Jews are being targeted, right? When non-Jews are beaten with batons by the NYPD for having a non-violent sit-in … it’s okay?
Milhouse
#19, there’s nothing non-violent about #OWS. Occupying someone else’s property is THEFT, which is violence. Preventing people from going about their business is violence. Stinking up the neighborhood and frightening people away from stores is violence. Harassing people is violence. Raping people is violence. Pooping on police cars is violence.
Sure, there are some things wrong with the country, such as when the government steals people’s money and property, as Obama did to the GM bond holders. These “occupiers” don’t want to stop that, they want more of it!