14-10-2011, 05:48 PM
OWS 1, Bloomberg 0: Zuccotti Park Cleanup Postponed
Posted October 14th 8:30am
The proposed cleanup of Zuccotti Park by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which was seen by many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters as the first step to disbanding the protesters, was canceled early Friday morning. The news was greeted by cheers from the crowd. Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the owners of the private park, Brookfield Office Properties, made the decision to put off the cleaning.
Supporters of the protesters had started streaming into the park in the morning darkness before the planned cleaning, forming a crowd of several hundred strong. Chanting.
"Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park Brookfield Properties that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation," the deputy mayor's statement said.
Many feared the cleaning would lead to a confrontation between the police and protesters, who vowed to stay put. In celebration, several hundred Occupy protesters marched down Broadway a block from Wall St.
As the Associate Press notes:
Brookfield, a publicly traded real estate firm, had planned to power-wash the plaza section by section over 12 hours and allow the protesters back but without much of the equipment they needed to sleep and camp there. The company called the conditions at the park unsanitary and unsafe.
The company's rules, which haven't been enforced, have been this all along: No tarps, no sleeping bags, no storing personal property on the ground. The park is privately owned but is required to be open to the public 24 hours per day.
In a last-ditch bid to stay, protesters had mopped and picked up garbage. While moving out mattresses and camping supplies, organizers were mixed on how they would respond when police arrived.
Many protesters said the only way they would leave is by force. Organizers sent out a mass email Thursday asking supporters to "defend the occupation from eviction."
Word on the street is that police are coming with flexicuffs to Zuccotti Park and looking to reign in the celebratory marchers on Broadway, NBC News reports. According to the NBC New York Twitter account, traffic on Broadway has been shutdown and "4 people arrested in NY as Occupy Wall Street' protesters march to Wall Street, gather under Stock Exchange."
CBS News notes: "Police motorcycles in a V-like formation moved toward the protesters in the standoff. One man lost his balance and was run over by a police motorcycle. Police descended on the protester and got him out from under the bike, but violence broke out. Radio station WINS-AM reported that police descended on some protesters, wielding their nightsticks and batons. A police captain reportedly hurled his megaphone and wound up rolling around in the street with a protester. A WINS-AM reporter said he was pushed around by police."
The protesters quickly returned to the relative safety of Zuccotti Park.
Posted October 14th 8:30am
The proposed cleanup of Zuccotti Park by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which was seen by many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters as the first step to disbanding the protesters, was canceled early Friday morning. The news was greeted by cheers from the crowd. Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the owners of the private park, Brookfield Office Properties, made the decision to put off the cleaning.
Supporters of the protesters had started streaming into the park in the morning darkness before the planned cleaning, forming a crowd of several hundred strong. Chanting.
"Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park Brookfield Properties that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation," the deputy mayor's statement said.
Many feared the cleaning would lead to a confrontation between the police and protesters, who vowed to stay put. In celebration, several hundred Occupy protesters marched down Broadway a block from Wall St.
As the Associate Press notes:
Brookfield, a publicly traded real estate firm, had planned to power-wash the plaza section by section over 12 hours and allow the protesters back but without much of the equipment they needed to sleep and camp there. The company called the conditions at the park unsanitary and unsafe.
The company's rules, which haven't been enforced, have been this all along: No tarps, no sleeping bags, no storing personal property on the ground. The park is privately owned but is required to be open to the public 24 hours per day.
In a last-ditch bid to stay, protesters had mopped and picked up garbage. While moving out mattresses and camping supplies, organizers were mixed on how they would respond when police arrived.
Many protesters said the only way they would leave is by force. Organizers sent out a mass email Thursday asking supporters to "defend the occupation from eviction."
Word on the street is that police are coming with flexicuffs to Zuccotti Park and looking to reign in the celebratory marchers on Broadway, NBC News reports. According to the NBC New York Twitter account, traffic on Broadway has been shutdown and "4 people arrested in NY as Occupy Wall Street' protesters march to Wall Street, gather under Stock Exchange."
CBS News notes: "Police motorcycles in a V-like formation moved toward the protesters in the standoff. One man lost his balance and was run over by a police motorcycle. Police descended on the protester and got him out from under the bike, but violence broke out. Radio station WINS-AM reported that police descended on some protesters, wielding their nightsticks and batons. A police captain reportedly hurled his megaphone and wound up rolling around in the street with a protester. A WINS-AM reporter said he was pushed around by police."
The protesters quickly returned to the relative safety of Zuccotti Park.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass