Good riddance!
The NYPD arrested 200 protesters as they moved in on Zuccotti Park early this morning and cleared out the thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters who had taken over the space for nearly two months.
Mayor Bloomberg, who called the decision to boot the protesters “mine and mine alone,” said protesters would be allowed back into the Lower Manhattan park but not with their tents and sleeping bags.
But the city’s victory is headed to court today: This morning the National Lawyers Guild announced it had received a restraining order against the city ordering the mobs be allowed back in along with their tents and sleeping bags.
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Bloomberg said this morning that the nearly two-month-old shantytown in the city’s bustling downtown had become a haven for criminals and a safety hazard.
“Unfortunately, the park was becoming a place where people came not to protest, but rather to break laws, and in some cases, to harm others,” Bloomberg said.
Under the watchful eye of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, hundreds of cops marched on the lower Manhattan encampment shortly before 1 a.m. and handed out fliers ordering demonstrators to get out and remove their personal property.
Party’s over! Police enter Zuccotti Park as cops roust the Occupy Wall Street rabble. (William Miller)
Occupy Wall Street protesters clash with police at Zuccotti Park after being ordered to leave. (AP)
A girl screams as police barge into a gathered crowd on the corner of Broadway and Pine. (Andrew Kelly)
Like new: A police officer watches as Sanitation workers scour the now-spotless park. (AFP/Getty Images)
BAG IT! A woman follows police orders early today as she carries her packed bags from Zuccotti Park — weeks after The Post insisted it was time for the city to finally take action. (Kendall Rodriguez)
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The cops were followed by Sanitation workers, one of whom was overheard saying, “We’re gonna disinfect the hell out of this place.”
The fliers read, “The city has determined that the continued occupation of Zuccotti Park poses an increasing health and fire safety hazard to those camped in the park, the city’s first responders, and to the surrounding community.
“You are required to immediately remove all property, including tents, sleeping bags and tarps.”
That touched off a chaotic scene within the park, as many of the protesters were roused from their slumber and began shouting to others, “Wake up!”
The chaos was continuing this morning, as cops and protesters battled on Pine Street and Broadway at 5 a.m., with police pushing crowds out of the street and on to the sidewalk. Cops charged into the mob after a protester threw an object into a group of police.
At least one police officer was injured; he was seen being taken out of Zuccotti Park on a stretcher, his eyes closed and with several lacerations on his face.
Cops cut U-shaped bike locks off the necks of the last holdouts, who chained themselves together in the center of Zuccotti, witnesses said.
Several hundred ousted protesters marched north up Centre Street after the cleanup, clashing with police who in at least one case were seen using batons on a group crossing the street in a crosswalk and with a green light.
A large crowd of protesters went north to Foley Square, while others headed to Canal Street and Sixth Avenue.
“What do you mean I’m done? What law did I break?” screamed a man as he was arrested and marched out of the park.
“I’m an anarchist, I’m not leaving this park,” said Asa Lowe, who was binding the hands of Amina Malika, 17, and Mesiah Hameed, 16, to a tree in the center of the park.
“I don’t give a f–k what they do,” said Hameed.
The anti-greed demonstrators were told they could return to Zuccotti Park in “several hours” after it was “cleared and restored for its intended use.”
But they were warned they would no longer be allowed to camp out or bring sleeping gear.
City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez (D-Manhattan) was arrested as protesters were cleared from the park. He also was injured, according to a spokesman for Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), who witnessed the incident.
“[Rodriguez] was in a group trying to push back down Broadway toward the park after we had closed it down,” Kelly said.
Also arrested was Paul Newell, Democratic District leader for New York’s 64th Assembly District. He was later released from police custody.
By 5:30 a.m., the newly-scrubbed Zuccotti was a far cry from the filthy mass of tents and blankets that had fouled the park for two months. All the tents have been cleared and a heavy smell of disinfectant lingered in the air.
By 7 a.m. all the streets surrounding the park were open to the public. After 50 protestors returned to the park, minus their gear, they were allowed inside. A short time later, the city closed the park after learning about the injunction.
Brookfield Properties, which operates the park, thanked the city for clearing out Zuccotti.
“Brookfield appreciates the peaceful and professional response of the NYPD, the FDNY, and the Department of Sanitation, and thanks Mayor Bloomberg for his leadership. As had been widely reported, conditions in Zuccotti Park had become dangerous, unhealthy and unsafe,” the company said in a statement. “In our view, these risks were unacceptable and it would have been irresponsible to not request that the city take action. Further, we have a legal obligation to the city and to this neighborhood to keep the Park accessible to all who wish to enjoy it, which had become impossible.”
People in the neighborhood welcomed the police action. One area resident was thrilled to finally have his neighborhood back.
“I’m ecstatic. I’m so happy to finally be able to use the open spaces of the Financial District again,” said the man, who asked that his name not be published.
As cops continued to remove demonstrators who wouldn’t go willingly, leaders of the movement were heard yelling, “Mike check! Disobey your orders!”
“I’m not leaving just because the police say so,” vowed Ben Swenson, 25, from Brooklyn.
“I have so many belongings here. It’s about social rights and equality. I’m not moving!”
Tyrone Greenfield, 23, said, “I got here and I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“I’m willing to get arrested, as many of us are. If they think this will accomplish anything, I disagree.”
An NYPD supervisor was overheard telling his officers, “Nice and easy, no one gets hurt. Nice and easy.”
When cops first arrived, some of the protesters began chanting, “The whole world is watching!” and sang Bob Marley songs.
A sound cannon was set up on the back of a truck on Liberty Street as police massed at three points to begin their march towards the center of the park — where the kitchen area was located.
As cops closed in, a “frozen zone” was created and all members of the press were also kicked out.
Some protesters complained of heavy-handed tactics and said they were clubbed as cops moved into the park. Husband and wife protest pair Matt and Liz Baldwin initially tried to resist, but voluntarily left the park in the face of what they said was police brutality.
“They were beating people; I saw police beating people,” Matt Baldwin said. “My wife’s pregnant. I had to get her out of there.”
Two large groups of evicted demonstrators marched to City Hall and to the famous bull statue near Wall Street.
The protesters’ ouster came less than a day after the movement announced plans for a series of disruptive protests outside the New York Stock Exchange and throughout the subway system.
Hours before today’s massive operation began, Bloomberg, Kelly, Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano and other officials secretly convened at City Hall to OK the move, sources said.
Kelly said cops had been conducting “mobilization exercises” — essentially practice runs — in the event the park had to be cleared.
“It reached a tipping point,” a City Hall source told The Post.
Bloomberg this morning said at a news conference that “protestors have had two months to occupy the park with tents and sleeping bags. Now they will have to occupy the space with the power of their arguments.”
The NYPD force ranged from rookies to high-ranking officers assigned to borough task forces and precincts around the city. They began reporting at around 11 p.m. for formation under the FDR Drive between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, sources said.
“They were told it was a mobilization drill, but to bring their hats and bats,” said one source, referring to protective head gear and batons.
Donning riot attire, the cops were accompanied by Emergency Service Unit trucks, as well as prisoner transport vans and city buses in the likely event that protestors did not go peacefully, the sources added.
Another group of cops comprising the NYPD Critical Response Vehicles will report this morning to the Jacob Javits Center.
The total number of Occupy Wall Street protesters busted since the protest began Sept 17 was 1,108, before last night, according to the NYPD.
Additional reporting by Doug Auer, Tim Perone, Danny Gold, Jamie Schram, Kenneth Garger and Rebecca Harshbarger