Long and Dobnik report: "Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters."

Occupy Wall Street protesters regroup in Foley Square after New York City police in riot gear removed them from Zuccotti Park early in the morning on November 15, 2011. (photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Court Order Allows Occupy Wall Street Protesters Back

By Colleen Long, Verena Dobnik, Associated Press

15 November 11

UPDATE: 5:00:pm:est - It now looks like earlier reports today that protesters would be allowed to bring tents and sleeping bags back to Liberty Plaza were unconfirmed. OccupyNYC's last text reads, "Confirmed: Court decision has NOT been made yet. Please spread the word and mic." The Guardian reports, "The New York state supreme court has ruled that the Occupy Wall Street protesters have lost their bid to restore a full encampment at Zuccotti Park, where the protests began two months ago.

Earlier today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged to re-open the park and allow the protesters to return, but without camping equipment. It now remains to be seen whether he fulfills his promise." -- CW/RSN

1:00:pm:est - A New York judge issued a temporary restraining order allowing protesters to return to Zuccotti Park only hours after police forcibly removed them.To read the document click here. -- CW/RSN

undreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality.

Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters.

About 70 people were arrested overnight, including some who chained themselves together, while officers cleared the park so that sanitation crews could clean it.

By 9 a.m., the park was power-washed clean. Police in riot gear still ringed the public space, waiting for orders to reopen it.

The city told protesters at the two-month-old encampment they could come back after the cleaning, but under new tougher rules, including no tents, sleeping bags or tarps, which would effectively put an end to the encampment if enforced.

Bloomberg said the evacuation was conducted in the middle of the night "to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood."

"The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day," Bloomberg said. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protesters, making it unavailable to anyone else."

Concerns about health and safety issues at Occupy Wall Street camps around the country have intensified, and protesters have been ordered to take down their shelters, adhere to curfews and relocate so that parks can be cleaned.

Hundreds of former Zuccotti Park residents and their supporters marched along Lower Manhattan before dawn Tuesday.

Some paused and locked arms outside the City Hall gates but left peacefully when police in riot gear appeared on the scene. About 300 to 400 kept moving along the sidewalks, taking care not to block them.

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+79 # pernsey 2011-11-15 11:02

At a morning news conference at City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city knew about the court order but had not seen it and would go to court to fight it. He said the city wants to protect people's rights, but if a choice must be made, it will protect public safety.

They are protecting people from themselves? Who's public safety are they protecting? Beating people to a pulp and arresting them to protect their safety?

Who they are protecting are their corporate masters...you know the ones who really run this country!

+47 # AMLLLLL 2011-11-15 11:52

I guess the august mayor doesn't see the people in the square as the 'public'...

+13 # michelle 2011-11-15 13:00

"He said the city wants to protect people's rights, but if a choice must be made, it will protect public safety."

If I understand this statement, Mayor Bloomberg is saying he is above the law. Geez, that's a scary thought. He can ignore the first amendment and the courts. Can you recall Dictator Bloomberg? If you can the time to start is right now. This just gets worse and worse for democracy in America.

Maybe it is time for the all of Occupy movements to head to DC and occupy congress.

+4 # michelle 2011-11-15 16:58

Update on Quan:
Mayor Quan of Oakland confirmed she planned the eviction after speaking/working with eighteen other mayors. She confirmed this in an interview with the BBC. Conspiracy of the 1%?

+12 # Harold R. Mencher 2011-11-15 15:22

Quoting

At a morning news conference at City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city knew about the court order but had not seen it and would go to court to fight it. He said the city wants to protect people's rights, but if a choice must be made, it will protect public safety.

They are protecting people from themselves? Who's public safety are they protecting? Beating people to a pulp and arresting them to protect their safety?

Who they are protecting are their corporate masters...you know the ones who really run this country!

Perhaps now is the perfect time for a recall election to remove Mayor Bloomberg from office and any City Council member who supported him. Just once I wish the citizenry of New York would vote a mayor into office who would abide by the United States Constitution and our Bill of Rights and is willing to replace the Chief of Police with someone who also will do the same, and to punish police officers who violate a citizen's Constitutional rights.

+8 # NanFan 2011-11-15 11:03

Wahooooooooooo! !!

N.

+7 # NanFan 2011-11-15 11:04

Let the law begin!

N.

0 # boudreaux 2011-11-16 07:59

Quoting

Let the law begin!

N.

I'd like to see the New Lawyer Jed Rakoff tie up their courts for future events....

+51 # Michael_K 2011-11-15 11:09

The mini-mayor has to go! His "lawful" excuse for his unconstitutiona l show of force is laughable. Less funny is this phony concern for "health and safety" which leads him to crack skulls and rib-cages and burn out eyeballs... Reminds me of the "Wackos from Waco" episode, in which it was claimed that "we simply HAD to incinerate the children, because they were in danger of perhaps eventually being molested"

We absolutely need to ensure these pseudo-human organisms are forever barred from any position of authority whatsoever.

+72 # jg4447 2011-11-15 11:19

Whoever this New York Judge is, s/he deserves praise for remembering that there is still such a thing as the First Amendment to the Constitution. Thank you, Your Honor!

+66 # George Kennedy 2011-11-15 11:26

Mayor Bloomberg is in his third, somewhat feckless, term. He's under enormous pressure from his billionaire buddies to erase this "blot" on their rapidly deteriorating image. They, like he, fear change, therefore they fear the future. The only thing worse than losing their ill-gotten gains is the possible loss of power. Time is not on their side.

+62 # Buddha 2011-11-15 11:38

There would be "health and safety" if there were public bathrooms in American cities and if the police would spend their time focusing on actually fighting crime instead of restricting political protest and infringing on 1st Amemdment rights. We ignore "health and safety" when we ignore urban homelessness, but when such "invisible" people gather and become visible, well, people don't like looking at those they have been ignoring, don't they? Go back to the overpass, homeless people, huh?

+24 # noitall 2011-11-15 12:06

There was a day when businesses that catered to people were required to provide for people's needs such as public restrooms. That was a regulation that the business world got rid of the the chagrin of us all during those moments of "high anxiety". What ever happened to their alleged "kinder and gentler" nation?!

+45 # noitall 2011-11-15 12:03

So Bloomberg wants to protect people's rights but prioritizes people's safety. Now there's a good one. Seems like the only threat to people's safety is the city's efforts to trod on people's rights.

+11 # seeuingoa 2011-11-15 12:39

And where the Hell is President Obama in all this??

When the Constitutional Right to Protest
Peacefully is violated the responsability
rests with the President.

If I could vote for my cat in the 2012
election I would do that instead of Obama.
He simply has let us down too many times.

+26 # Paul Scott 2011-11-15 12:40

Say What?

All I've seen for the last 50 or so days is cops, accross the nation, beating the hell out of OWS people trying to execute their First Amendment right.

And this rich clown raises a public safety issue?

+7 # michelle 2011-11-15 13:04

The effort seems to be coordinated in all cities almost as if there was a memo that said get rid of the OWS movements on this date and time. I saw a story that said some of the European occupy movements were also targeted. I think the aristocracy, aka 1%, is regaining or attempting to regain all the wealth and power they had in the past.

+4 # michelle 2011-11-15 17:08

Update on Quan:
Mayor Quan of Oakland confirmed she planned the eviction after speaking/working with eighteen other mayors. She confirmed this in an interview with the BBC. Conspiracy of the 1%?

0 # Michael_K 2011-11-15 19:29

This is actually not at all emphasized in any of the reporting and it is essential to understand how the purported "rule of law" seems so uniformly disconnected from the root law of the land in so many places at once.

+12 # seeuingoa 2011-11-15 12:41

Don´t forget the American Constitution
begins with

"WE THE 99%..."

+14 # Todd Williams 2011-11-15 12:42

Bloomberg is a PIG just like the rest of them. Don't ever trust a PIG! REOCCUPY NOW!

+18 # DPM 2011-11-15 12:48

Now, be nice. Thank the nice mayor for doing more to advance our cause than anyone else but Oakland, CA. Go mayor Bloomberg. This is being broadcast world wide, including to our troops fighting for, what? Freedom? Join your local Occupy group. Talk to everyone you know about our criminal 1%. Take your money out of the big banks. Cancel credit cards. The "big shots" are taking notice and they want us complacent, like we've been for the past 40 years. No more! OCCUPY!

+6 # Todd Williams 2011-11-15 13:17

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING NICE. THAT WILL GET US NOWHERE REAL FAST. TIME FOR THE BS TO STOP! RE-OCCUPY NOW!

+8 # animas 2011-11-15 12:54

I'm confused...the article at the top says that there was a order allowing protesters to return with tents... then later in the article it says no tents, huh?

How do you all feel about calling the police, pigs? I'm conflicted by this. It can feel good to say it on some level but I wonder, hmmm. does it serve us?

+27 # daveapostles 2011-11-15 12:54

Well done, National Lawyers Guild. More than ever, we need public-spirited lawyers.

+19 # CINNAB 2011-11-15 12:58

WHEN IS THIS PRESIDENT AND THE REST OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY GOING TO EXPRESS THEIR SUPPORT.REMEMBER THE RISE OF FACISM IN EUROPE

+5 # in deo veritas 2011-11-15 14:10

Good question but don't hold your breath thinking that re-election will change a thing. The changes could have been made before the fools voted for teabaggers in 2010. I doubt that they have learned a thing. We have met the enemy and he is us.

+7 # daveapostles 2011-11-15 13:02

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lucy Billings - thank you, ma'am.

+5 # jwb110 2011-11-15 13:07

It doesn't matter what the "Establishment, i.e. the 1%" do. It is going to be the wrong move. Bloomberg looks like exactly what he is, a member of the 1%. All the shuck and jiving and rebranding and usual bull is not making it. The 1% and their minions reached a tipping point and didn't think that it could happen to them and so never noticed.
When a citizenry decides they want their country back they are unstoppable.

+8 # DLT888 2011-11-15 13:10

Bloomberg said. "Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protesters, making it unavailable to anyone else."

Who is the "anyone else"???!!! The 1% want to sit in the park? Go ahead and sit in the park. The occupiers aren't preventing anyone from entering the park so this is a whole load of bull from Bloomersberg.

+8 # qasee 2011-11-15 13:46

Notice how they are starting to change the narrative? It's all about public heath and safety, there's drugs and violence in these camps, bla bla bla. If these so called leaders would start addressing the issues that brought these people together in the first place, they wouldn't be there. But then again, the police couldn't have so much fun practicing there "crowd control" techniques.

+2 # aitengri 2011-11-15 13:53

For a long range project, I'd propose parameter research on the "psyche" of your average career cop, and the recruits who see policework as a viable career. In law enforcement training, how much plays into the "ready for violence" mentality, if that's what's found in the research, and how much emphasizes the forgotten "peace officer" component? PIGS may well be seen as an accurate shorthand for some of the implicit conclusions I'm referencing in this. And what is the role of undercover military strategy for influencing domestic police policy?

+8 # in deo veritas 2011-11-15 14:08

Unlike most public officials opposing OWS, Bloombugg doesn't work for the oligarchs he is one of them. It has been very noticeable that the mere mention of the homeless has disppeared from the "media" over the past several years. I guess they don't exist anymore? The money the city has ben blowing on the police militarization could heve been better spent trying to alleviate the suffering of this particular group harder hit than anyone else by the depredations of the banks. The GOP's constant attacks on these victims as being lazy parasites is called projection, by which the accusers try to shift blame from themselves. None of this is anything new. Remember when St.Ron was having the DC cops evict people from the exhaust gratings near govt. buildings where they were huddled in the winter cold to find some warmth? At least that got SOME attention from the media unlike nowadays. We had Hoovervilles, reagan Ranches, Bush Gardens, now the Bloomberg Bleachers. Is this any longer a country that God will consider blessing? Think about it.

+2 # Aussieken 2011-11-15 14:13

The power elite have their knickers in a knot everywhere it seems.Power to the people right on!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8374685/police-arrest-occupy-melbourne-protesters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-02/police-move-occupy-brisbane-protesters-out/3614186

+6 # Bodiotoo 2011-11-15 14:22

PDs should protect and defend...not attack peaceful assembl;ies. The Camping i.e.is a cause to bring it to the media's attention. This occupy movement coulc be "policed" by officers in uniform simply walking through the park...not riot squads. These "Nationa;" actions underscore that PDs are being used against citizens and citizens rights. The PD are becoming more and more militant.

+6 # wwway 2011-11-15 14:47

What is the place of the public in a corporate run state?
The public has been footing the bills for the corporations on the environment and other matters. Now the tax payer is forced to fund police brutality for the corporation.
Where are the Democrats in Washington? They've been knocked down by Americans who have, for 30 years, sided with the shift to the right and they aren't sure the people are sincere in their change of heart. That's the simple truth Until the 99% translates political action to the party with the platform that simpathizes with them (Democrats) then Conservadems like Max Baccus will continue to keep the Democratic party right of center. Voters have to get Republicans, teas and Conservadems OUT of Washington. That's not going to happen if the 99% aren't sincere in their cause or diligent in their effort.

+4 # Kev C 2011-11-15 15:49

Big problem is that every occupation protest has been ousted across the country in some way or other. Now forgive my ignorance but that smells of a conspiracy to undermine the solidarity of the National Occupy Movement.
Even the LA Times reported that the protesters would be allowed back but not allowed to take camping gear or any other shelter material. Now you see they have set theprecedent and they desperately (and I mean desperately) want the protesters to camp there so they can get REALLY HEAVY with the peaceful protesters for violating the court order. Before this order there was no prohibition. Now there is. Before they could not actually evict people except on very spurious grounds which are still to be debated in courts. Now they have a cast iron reason to kick shit out of the protesters. See if they don't do it.

+6 # Electricrailwaygod 2011-11-15 18:28

The police, I USED to have utmost respect for, but now? ABSOLUTELY NOT (except in rare cases)! Now it is appearing to be so clear that for the most part (especially in the major American cities) that the paramilitary force called the well... police.. who are supposedly there to preserve order and assist in resolving disputes and aprehend the true criminals who cause harm and possible injury towards others, now have become "devolved" in vecoming a "security force" for the corporate elite! This is what happened under Hitler in Germany inthe previous century, as well as with the KGB under Josef Stalin, and indeed with Mussolini's "Fascisti". This "Fascisti" or "Sturmabteilung" has now entered America -- uh... from within... and become the "private" security force of the corporatocracy. This is indeed a sad day for America. (Pardon me, now Amerika)!

This is a very scary time and unless the American people wake up )as indeed the Occupy Movement has done) en masse, then it truely shall be a curtain call for this country.

One last comment. In regard to "public safezy" the use of a loo should be an BASIC UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHT! Definitely not some "corporate privilege"!

+2 # boudreaux 2011-11-16 08:03

Everything that Bloomberg is doing will reflect in the next mayor's election and I wonder how many New Yorkers support OWS...

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.