Occupy Wall Street Day 28: Zuccotti Park eviction on hold, NYPD arrests 14, get ready to protest on October 15
Congratulations to Occupy Wall Street!
After New York City multibillionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered a temporary eviction of Zuccotti Park (aka Liberty Square) on October 12, over 300,000 people signed petitions and swamped the 311 lines demanding that the OWS protesters be allowed to stay. OWS sent out an emergency call, and over 3,000 people occupied the park last night and this morning in defiance of the eviction notice.
Brookfield Properties, which manages Zuccotti Park, insisted that protesters were creating undue wear and tear on the space and contributing to unsanitary conditions. A letter sent to the mayor's office on October 11 also complained about the number of packages being delivered to the park, saying that none of the packages had been screened by security or police and that "the Park's location in the financial district makes this activity particularly concerning."
Yeah, that's right. Whenever you want to get your way, just throw out the bogeyman of violence, even though not one single occupying action has turned violent unless the police instigated it. That's my second-favourite "bully the protesters" tactic, lagging only slightly behind digging up archaic laws to justify arrests.
Protesters responded with a massive cleanup of the park on their own on October 13. Russell Simmons also offered to pay for the cleanup out of his own pocket.
Brookfield Properties is a subsidiary of Brookfield Office Properties, a commercial real estate corporation that has investments in 109 properties around the globe, including Royal Centre, located at 1055 West Georgia in Vancouver, and which has received almost $700,000 from the government since September 11, 2001, money intended for small businesses. Brookfield Office Properties is worth about $8 billion.
The city was set to evict protesters at 7 a.m. EST today.
However, despite the stay on the eviction, members of the NYPD still found time to arrest at least 14 people. The video below sees the NYPD arrest a man for the horrible crime of…holding a broom?
In this clip, an officer riding a motocycle runs over a protester's leg.
Yep, a totally reasonable, rational, running someone over. C.S. Muncy photo.
At 1:40 in this video, you see a police officer punch a protester in the head. The provocation for such violence is unclear.
And watch them take down a citizen unaffiliated with Occupy Wall Street.
Salon's news editor Steve Kornacki, put out a challenge to anti-OWS pundits: "Pick a day, come on down to the neighborhood, and be my guest. I’ll treat you to a cup of coffee or a quick meal (what better way to support the local merchants who are supposedly being crushed by the protests?) and then we’ll walk over to Zuccotti Park together, visit with the protesters, and compare notes."
Occupying actions are set in over 1,500 cities in 92 countries worldwide on October 15, including Vancouver. Protesters will meet locally around 10 a.m. at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
I encourage everyone who plans on attending an occupying action to familiarize themselves with a couple of publications from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
Protesters' Guide to the Law of Civil Disobedience in B.C.
Remember everyone: be safe, be responsible, look out for your fellow protesters, and don't be a snitch.
Want to read previous coverage? Check it out here.
Follow Miranda Nelson on Twitter at @charenton_, who will be on scene observing at Occupy Vancouver on October 15. Come say hi; she'll be the one with the irrepressible sassmouth.
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