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Protesters Suspicious of Plan to Clean up NYC Park
Protesters expressed fears Thursday that a scheduled cleanup of the private park where they've been camped out near Wall Street is merely a ploy to unravel the demonstration.
NEW YORK — Protesters expressed fears Thursday that a scheduled cleanup of the private park where they've been camped out near Wall Street is merely a ploy to unravel the demonstration.
Compost heaps are seen in Zuccotti Park, where the "Occupy Wall Street" protests are currently taking place, Friday, October 7, 2011, in New York. The three-week-old campout in a lower Manhattan plaza looks like a jumble of tattered sleeping bags, but teams of volunteers working on food, sanitation, health care and other needs keep the shifting population of protesters functioning like an impromptu city within the city. (AP Photo/Andrew Burton) City officials have informed protesters that they will need to leave Zuccotti Park on Friday so that it can be cleaned, but that they'll be allowed to return afterward.
As a steady drizzle fell Thursday over the park, owned by Brookfield Properties, confusion was high over when the protesters will be ordered out - and where they'll go during the evacuation.
"The cleanup is a pretext to remove us from the camp. And we can return only if we abide by the rules of Brookfield Properties," said Justin Wedes, 25, a public high school science teacher from Brooklyn who was sweeping the pavement with others. "We're redoubling our efforts today."
Brookfield did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the cleanup. City officials remained mum on logistics.
"This is the cleanest protest I've ever witnessed," said Emilio Montilla, 29, a laid-off teacher's assistant. "We take care of ourselves. We're self-sufficient."
A notice handed out to protesters Thursday from Brookfield stated that the cleaning is part of daily upkeep, and that conditions have deteriorated in recent weeks because that upkeep was put on hold by the protesters.
"They're going to use the cleanup to get us out of here!" Wedes said. "It's a de facto eviction notice."
Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said in a statement Wednesday that the protest has "created unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on the park." He said Brookfield asked for police help to clear the park so it can be cleaned.
Holloway said the cleaning will be done in stages Friday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the protesters Wednesday to offer assurances.
Allison Esso of Human Services Council, a group that supports the protesters, was wary. "I'm hoping that they're not trying to undermine their ability to protest," she said.
The protest, known as Occupy Wall Street, has sympathetic groups in other cities which each stage their own local rallies and demonstrations: Occupy Boston, Occupy Cincinnati, Occupy Houston, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Philadelphia, Occupy Providence, Occupy Salt Lake, and Occupy Seattle, among them.
The movement has also drawn reaction from world leaders, including President Barack Obama, former Polish President Lech Walesa and Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Walesa said Thursday that he supports the New York protest and is planning to either visit or write a letter to the protesters. He said the global economic crisis has made people aware that "we need to change the capitalist system" because we need "more justice, more people's interests, and less money for money's sake."
Khamenei said Wednesday that the wave of protests reflects a serious problem that will ultimately topple capitalism in America. He claimed the United States is in a full-blown crisis because its "corrupt foundation has been exposed to the American people."
Khamenei's remarks came a day after U.S. officials said the Obama administration plans to leverage charges that Iran plotted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador into a new global campaign to isolate the Islamic republic.
Protesters, who have been living, sleeping and eating in the park for the duration, say they are in it for the long haul, despite the onset of cold weather.
On Wednesday, police arrested four people outside JP Morgan Chase offices where Wall Street protesters called in vain for a meeting with Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. Protesters accused the police of rough handling. An Associated Press photographer witnessed police officers heading into the crowd of demonstrators to make the arrests.
Meanwhile, about 700 members of the Service Employees International Union marched through the Financial District; the union, which represents 23,000 office cleaners, is gearing up for contract negotiations with the Realty Advisory Board.
More protests are planned in Toronto and Vancouver this weekend, and European activists also are organizing.
A lawyer for a woman pepper-sprayed during an action last month is demanding that the Manhattan district attorney prosecute an NYPD deputy inspector on an assault charge. Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the matter was being investigated by police internal affairs and the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw.
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47 Comments so far
Show AllHere's my little contribution to the cause.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCpu8QhWS0w&feature=channel_video_title
GO FOR IT!! There is a wealth of music that is worth a good solid retread!
Bloombergs Rockafeller moment. And I mean that in all it's grim faced severity.
Pretextual or not, IIRC the physical protestor presence in and around the Capitol complex diminished significantly after a similar "clear-out for clean-up" was imposed during the Madison protests.
In Philadelphia, Occupiers are facing previously-scheduled renovation work in Dilworth Plaza surrounding City Hall beginning later this month.
As noted previously, Mayor Michael Nutter has been speaking softly and even nominally sympathetically since the Philly protest gathering began. He's publicly expressing hope and intention of "working something out", but insisting that the renovations will proceed on schedule.
But it remains to be seen whether municipal authorities resuming ostensibly temporary control of occupied spaces short of adversarial, belligerent police actions will cripple or kill the protests softly.
C'mon Servant!
For a movement that went from nationwide stirrings to Global trembles after a dramatic mass arrest on the Brooklyn Bridge, this clean-up-cum-eviction is child's play to handle.
They need to simply proceed en mass to the Park when the cleaning is finished. And quietly, politely, peacefully, insist upon re-entry. Even if hundreds again get arrested, even if the police (supervisors) again become violent.
Just peacefully insist upon practicing their effin' RIGHTS.
Let the NYPD kick up the Global Sympathy and Solidarity another notch if they want to.
This thing is a wave that ain't stopping without a crash a helluva lot bigger and louder than the NYPD can even hope to handle.
The assholes are slick, but transparent. Brace yourselves, sisters and brothers, this won't be easy.
No, it won't be easy because they will enlist the military and get out the tanks to clear people from the streets because they are addicted to power and money and addicts become very violent when confronted with giving up the objects of their addiction.
We will win when the military wakes up and starts refusing orders. Then they have no power anymore.
You are raving.
Get the TV-induced pseudo-dreams of Tiananmen Square out of your head and wake up to reality. ;)
It'll be as easy as getting something like 1/5th of the largest march totals to meet on Friday -or even Saturday- and take a walk in the park. ;)
Refuse to leave.
You will be allowed to return provided that you not bring back your tents, sleeping bags, and personal belongings, which will subject you to arrest. Mayor Bloomberg sees nothing wrong with that.
Billionaires are not allowed to sleep in the park either, so it is fair.
i've seen this info also. it remains to be seen if bloomberg would rather be subject to the greatest levels of criticism imaginable from virtually the whole world compared to the small and temporary "victory" he could achieve by effectively shutting down the occupation. my guess is that he is willing to take the chance that the outrage over shutting it down would be manageable.
typical 1% logic.
UNJUSTIFIED arrest.
That's an important word you missed there. ;)
when people actually get arrested and charged with possession of a sleeping bag, that will be news.
Move on is sending out a petition to its members to send to Mayor B to stop him from doing this. Soft power?
Move On is good on petitions that represent those who are unable to be active. What is needed are militant people in sufficient numbers to defend the right to remain in the park or to provide an escort for Occupy Wall Street to return to the park with their tents and sleeping bags after the cleaning. It seems a good role for Veterans for Peace and the like. Occupy Wall Street requires a show of serious support. Only serious numbers will cause Bloomberg to back down. He has most likely cleared the upcoming eviction with Obama.
I just got an email from someone in MoveOn asking for people to go to the park at 6 AM. The idea is to have so many people there that eviction will be physically impossible.
Do it.
But if the cops get nasty, stay calm, stay peaceful.
And if you have to, leave.
Re-occupation will be no sweat if the numbers are there.
From what I have seen the park is sanitary and clean, as clean as possible under the circumstances. It is not Zuccotti Park that needs a clean-up, but Wall Street and politics.
Occupiers and supporters are staging a giant "clean up" today with brooms and other cleaning supplies. If you are in NYC, please come.
Just whistle while you work
(Whistle da da da da da da da)
Those Wall Street guys are jerks
They ship our jobs and calls up mobs
And give themselves the perks
Elsewhere it is being reported that the protestors are organizing their own clean up of the park in advance of the NYPD/NY Sanitation Workers' arrival on Friday morning. Rumor has it they will stand with brooms and cleaning implements around the park perimeter in total nonviolence. If nonetheless physically ousted from the park for Mayor Bloomberg's second "official" cleaning, the game plan is for everyone to march away with their brooms, mops, and other items to, literally, clean up Wall Street before returning.
Sounds like a great cat-and-mouse chess match. It would be interesting to know the substantive politics of the real people actually running the corporate person labeled Brookfield Properties.
Bill from Saginaw
Ha ha ha!
Good one Occupiers!
Then re-occupation of the PUBLIC park, of course.
Eviction would be just more of the same by those running our government, Wall Street. We all need to demand state banks and start building them immediately. These bankers are worst than tyrannical kings. We must not allow them to destroy and use us the way they do any longer..
America is no longer, by any definition, a democracy. We have to do something and redefining the power of a mayor might be a start.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad0gant1zeo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0rJWnRFUJA
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/112420/why-north-dakota-may-be-best-state-in-country-to-live-in
smart move by bloomberg. an obvious attempt to reassert control over space but couching it in a "reasonable" pretext. this seems to be the new eviction tactic favored by power. if the protestors comply, they occupy nothing. they are merely guests at the sufferance of power. if they remain, they force a showdown that many of the more naive will not want.
Hopefully the folks refuse to leave. If they do, they've lost.
You are quite wrong.
I don't think you are getting what is happening at all.
Look at that TIME poll just yesterday.
Occupy Wall Street is a POPULAR MOVEMENT!
wtf?
How do these "unsanitary conditions" compare against the the "legacy" of U.S. bombing in Cambodia - with all those countless number of un-exploded ordinance (UXO)? I hope somebody makes up a sign that says "Clean up Cambodia FIRST".
Put out a call for everyone to arrive with symbolic brooms. Thousands of people making a point for public spaces being denied in a 'democracy'. No reason for this to be a weakening of presence. The intention of privatization of parks and other public spaces is to control public spaces - ostensibly financially. The funding for public spaces has been sucked up into the military for off shore mercenaries and arms in a perpetual war economy for usurpation.
The tradition of public squares dates from common grazing areas for sheep and other animals as well a healthy presence right through history to the present day.
Call 212-NEW-YORK and lend your voice. This is intolerable.
Thanks. If you live in New York City, calling 311 gets you to that same number. Be prepared to wait. I said I did not want to be anonymous and that my neighborhood had seriously filthy sites that needed cleaning. The person on the other end is well aware that this is a first amendment issue and seems set up to accept that as your complaint to the mayor. I added that if the police are dressed as stormtroopers when they club demonstrators, that is bad for New York's image.
Ask them to clean parks in the Bronx and Brooklyn, or the filthy, filthy, raggedy, subway at Fulton Street.
TIME TO PUSH BACK!
Ninety-Nine to One, baby
One in 99...
No one here gets a free ride, now
They got theirs, baby
And now's our time...
Gonna make it, baby
If we try
The old get old
And the young get stronger
May take a week
And it may take longer
They got the guns
But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah
We're takin' over
Come on!
Your ballroom days are over, baby
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening crawl across the years
Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna' make it, baby, in our prime
Come together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, aha
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time!
Get together one more time
Get together one more time
Get together, gotta, get together
Get together one more time!
If the 1% thinks it's going to end here, they've got another thing coming. THIS TACTIC TO EVICT DEMOCRACY MUST BE DEMONSTRATED TO BE A COMPLETE NON-STARTER!
NOW MORE THAN EVER IS THE TIME TO OCCUPY LIKE WE MEAN IT!
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable.”
—John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Who has gotten more of a free ride than the Wall Street guys - rewarded for fraud and greed, evicting, laying off and harming others in more ways than one can list? I want my tax money to go for WIC so babies have a better chance at a healthy start.
WIC?!?
I want MY tax money to go to socialized medicine, daycare, and education preschool-Doctorate, so babies have the kind of chance that a decent 21st century society can give them.
A "better chance" than a crypto-fascist, neo-feudal, Corporatist Empire gives them ain't squat! ;)
"They got the guns
But we got the numbers"
if it comes to that, one high speed gatling can kill thousands in a few seconds...
the m16 was designed so that even if the soldier using it did not aim, not wanting to kill, it would send out a cloud of tumbling high-energy bullets that would kill the targeted person anyways.. the us army 45 semi-automatic pistol was designed to stop moro tribesmen during the u.s. takeover of the phillipines from spain... armed with machetes, they would keep on coming even when hit with the until then standard 38cal bullet.......they were often executed by being waterboarded till their bellies were bloated, then the u.s. soldiers would stomp on them...usa! usa!
Yeah, because they're dead and this movement is just being born.
You can't possibly know the first thing about Mao Zedong if you think his opinion or blessing is something anyone not batshit crazy would want.
And you certainly don't know squat about Che Guevara if you think he wouldn't have been living in the Park with the Occupiers since October 17th.
I am so tired of lame, stupid, lazy trolls on this site!
I demand decent trolls, dammit! ;)
canada, canada....
TORONTO - A Canadian border alert has been issued to prevent HARD-CORE U.S. PROTESTERS FROM crossing the border to take part in marches and an occupation of the country's financial centres on Saturday.
Officials have circulated the identities, descriptions and criminal records of hundreds of U.S. protesters to front-line officers at border crossings, asking them to be alert.
Border officers said many of those being turned back have been involved in previous protests and have a history with U.S. police
Another excellent opportunity for good organization to show its worth.
Those attempting to join in Solidarity with their fellows across the imaginary Imperial Border need to simply plan to cross in one place, and attempt to WALK across the Border en mass.
Then, if turned back, they merely need to regroup at the nearest public space of sufficient size and hold and impromptu Occupation there in Solidarity with the Canadian marches.
The "trickle-in quietly" method cannot compete with current security technics.
Openness and massiveness are the tools needed now.
“A lawyer for a woman pepper-sprayed during an action last month is demanding that the Manhattan district attorney prosecute an NYPD deputy inspector on an assault charge.”
Corporate media continues to report reporting that these 'white shirts' are police supervisors as opposed to rank and file. But according to long time Wall Street observer Pam Martens, the white shirt guys are from the 'Paid Detail Unit'- financed by the NYSE and Wall Street corporations. The Detail is made of (mature aged) NYPD officers who receive an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) and New York City gets a 10 percent administrative fee on top of the $37 per hour paid to the police.
These are the goons who do the pepper spraying and net catching. I wonder who makes up the mayors Wall Street sanitation clean up workers?
"Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said ... that the protest has 'created unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on the park.'"
I say that Wall Street has created unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on our country.
It's time to connect the dots. The decision in New York to deny the OWS protesters the ability to make camp in a publicly -owned park was a cynical ploy to allow for the current plan to evict the protesters.
Am I the only one who thought it odd that a private individual would volunteer their land for this ongoing occupation?
I must say, I thought the land must have been owned by some eccentric New Yorker or left-leaning millionaire the stepped in to help the occupiers. Now we can pretty much assume that it was a setup from the very beginning by Mayor Bloomberg and, it seems, his girfriend. Google "Bloomberg girlfriend Brookfield Properties" and see that she in on their board.
Here's the scenario. The OWS protesters come into town with the intent to occupy a publicly-owned park and are denied by the city. Luckily, Brookfield Properties steps in and says the protesters are welcome to set up camp on their privately-owned land.
Fast forward to now.
If the occupiers were staying in a publicly-owned park, Mayor Bloomberg would have a more difficult time evicting them from a public space and the question of who owns public space (a point made by all the occupy groups worldwide) would be at the forefront.
Now the tables are turned. Mayor Bloomberg is the hero defending private property owners' right to set the rules in their publicly accessible space. Now it becomes a question of private property rights and the property owners - a far more difficult issue to dispute in the courts. The occupiers are in violation of the law and the city's white-shirted minions will be more than happy to crack heads to defend the rights of those same private property owners.
Inciting violence will be the NYPD's primary goal today, make no mistake about it. The goals are to discredit the incredibly peaceful protest and strengthen the prosecution cases after the mass arrests are over.
It was a setup from the very beginning.
I am afraid your suspicions are probably very accurate.
the nycpd:
By Graham Rayman Thu., Oct. 13 2011 at 2:03 PM
The disturbing reports today from the trial of a detective on corruption charges once again confirm allegations raised in the Voice's NYPD Tapes series that the quota pressure causes police officers to do bad things.
Former Brooklyn narcotics detective Stephen Anderson testified last week that cops commonly made up drug charges against innocent people to hit arrest quotas, according to reports in the New York Post and Daily News.
Anderson himself was arrested for planting cocaine on a quartet of men in 2008 in a bar in Queens to help another officer, Henry Tavarez, meet his buy-and-bust quota.
"Tavarez was ... was worried about getting sent back [to patrol] and, you know, the supervisors getting on his case," he recounted at the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny, the Daily News wrote.
"I had decided to give him [Tavarez] the drugs to help him out so that he could say he had a buy," Anderson testified last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court, the Daily News reported.
In the Voice series, Police Officer Adrian Schoolcraft alleged that officers routinely made up stop-and-frisk reports, dubbed "ghosts," to make their monthly quota. Moreover, precinct commanders are heard haranguing cops to just go out do stop and frisk people, even when there was no crime to respond to. Quotas affected everything from arrests to traffic tickets.
Eight officers were arrested in the probe, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly ordered widespread transfers in Brooklyn South and Queens narcotics units.
When Judge Gustin Reichbach asked whether this sort of thing was frequent, Anderson replied, "Yes, multiple times."
"It was something I was seeing a lot of, whether it was from supervisors or undercovers and even investigators," he added, the News reported.
The News reports that the city paid $300,000 to settle a false arrest lawsuit filed by two men against Anderson and Tavarez. A FEDERAL JUDGE DECLARED THAT THE NYPD IS "PLAGUED BY WIDESPREAD FALSIFICATION BY ARRESTING OFFICERS," THE NEWS REPORTED.
To Protect and To Serve... or in the case of the NYPD: "Courtesy, Responsibility, Respect". That's their motto.
Gotta love 'em!