Friday, November 18, 2011
Police action against Occupy protest, again
Even as they celebrated their two-month anniversary Occupy Wall Street protestors got the rough end of the stick in New York City this week, first being forcibly evicted from Zuccotti Park on Tuesday and then on Thursday running the gauntlet of police arrests and blockades.
After their tents were torn down and their property was trashed using bulldozers Occupy protestors were banned from returning to their campsite at Zuccotti Park by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who cited “health and safety” as justification for the evictions.
However when several hundred protestors regrouped and sought to march on the New York Stock Exchange they were confronted by a large contingent of New York Police Department officers.
The NYPD hemmed the protestors in at the chokepoint at the intersection of Pine and Nassau Streets, with barricades preventing them from advancing any closer to the NYSE. Traffic was also snarled near the junction.
While the protestors raised slogans and continued chanting, “We are the 99 per cent” and “We are not afraid of your nightsticks,” the New York Times reported that one officer wearing riot gear told a group of protesters that he had worked 36 hours straight, adding, “If I keep getting paid, I can tough it out.”
The tough clampdown on NYC Occupy protestors came even as protestors across the nation planned a day of solidarity to highlight highlighting growing income inequality and a dire need for jobs in the floundering U.S. economy.
The action also came in the wake of reports that police officers in Seattle, Washington state, used pepper spray on Occupy demonstrators, reportedly including an 84-year-old woman and a pregnant woman.
Labels: Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park
Occupy protesters forcibly evicted
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg really knows how to go for the jugular. Similar to President Barack Obama's covert strike against Osama bin Laden, Mr. Bloomberg sent police officers in riot gear into the very epicentre of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, at 1 a.m. on Tuesday and forcibly evicted every peaceful protester there.
In an action that some branded as an attempt to wipe Occupy movement off the map, Mr. Bloomberg cited health and safety reasons for the eviction, which also saw police deploy large bulldozers to clear out the protesters' belongings from the park.
According to eyewitness accounts, police ripped up protesters' tents and deployed tear gas, pepper spray and a sound cannon. Media reported that some protesters assembled at the middle of the park, and raised slogans, “Whose park? Our park!”
Similar action
The clearing of Zuccotti Park comes close on the heels of similar developments in Oakland, California, which has seen the most violent police action to date, against Occupy protesters.
On Monday, the police entered the Occupy Oakland camp at Frank Ogawa plaza and, again citing health and safety reasons, tore down protesters' tents and forcibly removed them, arresting at least 20 in the process.
At a news conference in New York, Mr. Bloomberg however said, “The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day.” He added that ever since the Occupy movement began, that law had not been complied with because the protesters had made the park unavailable to anyone else.
“I have become increasingly concerned... that the occupation was coming to pose a health and fire safety hazard to the protesters and to the surrounding community,” said Mr. Bloomberg, noting the park's owners had on Monday requested the city's assistance in enforcing the so-called “no sleeping and camping” rules.
Leaving little doubt as to his role, Mr. Bloomberg said , “But make no mistake the final decision to act was mine.”
Return possible
Yet early on Tuesday morning, wire services quoted the National Lawyers Guild saying it had obtained a court injunction that allowed the protesters to return with tents to the park. “The guild says the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters,” reports noted.
Mr. Michael Bloomberg said the city was aware of the court order but had not yet seen it, and that the City of New York planned “to go court immediately”.
Labels: forcible eviction, Occupy protests, Zuccotti Park
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