10/13/11 at 2:48 PM
Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images
There's a face-off brewing between the city and the Occupy Wall Street protest, and it's less than 24 hours from boiling over. Last night Mayor Bloomberg made his first appearance at the demonstrations, alerting the occupants that they would be forced to temporarily vacate their home of nearly a month at the behest of Zuccotti Park owners Brookfield Properties. The group responded immediately, insisting that they would do the cleaning themselves beginning Friday morning: "If NYPD attempts to enter, we'll peacefully/non-violently stand our ground and those who are willing will get arrested." But the city's orders became even stricter today when NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly explained that, after the park is cleared and cleaned, protesters "won’t be able to bring back the gear, the sleeping bags, that sort of thing will not be able to be brought back into the park." That sure sounds like he's all set to end the occupation.
On their official website, the protest movement admits that "cleaning" has been used "to shut down peaceful occupations elsewhere," and acknowledges "that this is their attempt to shut down #OWS for good." In response, they've asked supporters to call Bloomberg to voice their support for a right to assembly, but they've also issued an emergency call to action, summoning sympathizers "to defend the occupation from eviction" beginning at 6 a.m. tomorrow.
In conclusion, they declare: "This is an occupation, not a permitted picnic."
Wall St. protesters will not be allowed to bring sleeping bags, tents back into park [NYP]
EMERGENCY CALL TO ACTION: Prevent the forcible closure of Occupy Wall Street! [OWS]
By Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott
ReplyDeleteNew York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s girlfriend serves on the board of directors of the private company that owns the park which Occupy Wall Street protesters have used as their home base for the past few weeks, KleinOnline has learned.
The protesters have reportedly been making a mess of Zuccotti Park, a public space that’s owned by a private financial giant, Brookfield Office Properties Inc. The park, close to Wall Street, is named after Brookfield’s co-chairman, John Zuccotti.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Brookfield wanted the protesters removed, but it was Bloomberg’s New York Police Department that urged the private company to allow the protests to stay in the park.
There isn’t much Brookfield can do to evict the protesters since the park’s charter allows for 24-hour public access.
The company complained in a statement on Friday that “because the protestors refuse to cooperate…the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16th and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels.”
On his weekly radio show Friday, Bloomberg had harsh words for the Occupy Wall Street movement, which already cost the city a reported $2 million in police overtime.
“What they’re trying to do is to take the jobs away from people working in the city. They’re trying to take away the tax base we have because none of this is good for tourism,” Bloomberg said. “There’s no easy solutions here.”
However, it has emerged that Bloomberg’s long-term girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor, serves as one of nine members of Brookfield’s board of directors.
Taylor has been dubbed by the NY Times as New York’s “de facto first lady.”
Sounds like something you should investigate Rafael. You call yourself a journalist, where's your story about this? Have you even tried to ask the Mayor his opinion?
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