NY police evict Wall Street protesters

NY police evict Wall Street protesters

In a post-midnight operation, New York City police descended on Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park and evicted hundreds of “Occupy Wall Street” protesters, who have been camping there for the past two months.

Amid chaotic scenes, about 150 protesters were arrested during the police action, which was the first of its kind to deal with the “Occupy” movement that has swiftly spread to a host of cities across America.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the decision to clear the park, stating that health and safety conditions had become intolerable with the protesters living in tents and tarps.

Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, formerly called Liberty Plaza Park, had become the official headquarters of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement against economic inequality and corporate greed.

“NYPD (New York Police Department) is raiding Liberty Square,” said the “Occupy” website, which video streamed the eviction. Many protesters chanted, “Whose park? Our park” and “You don’t have to do this.”

Bloomberg termed the eviction a temporary measure, saying the park would be reopened to the protesters after the tents and tarps had been removed and the whole place had been cleaned. About 50 of the protesters had already been allowed to get back to the park, he told reporters on Tuesday.

“New York City is the city where you can come and express yourself,” he said, arguing what was happening in Zuccotti Park was not that, with the protesters making the park unavailable to anyone else.

“We have an obligation to enforce the laws today, to make sure that everybody has access to the park so everybody can protest. That’s the First Amendment and it’s number one on our minds,” Bloomberg said. “We also have a similar, just as important obligation to protect the health and safety of the people in the park.”

The protesters sought to make it clear that they were not going to give in. On Tuesday morning, several hundred of them gathered in Foley Square and marched to City Hall, chanting “We are unstoppable, another world is possible” and “This is what democracy looks like”.

The operation to clear the park began around 1 a.m., with police handing out notices from the park’s owner, Brookfield Office Properties, that said the continued occupation posed a health and fire hazard. “You are required to immediately remove all property, including tents, sleeping bags and tarps from Zuccotti Park. That means you must remove the property now,” the note said.

The action in New York followed the previous day’s police raid in Oakland, California where a massive operation was launched to oust the city’s own “Occupy” protesters, 33 of whom were arrested.