Metro

Outrage over caged Wall Street bull

(Landov)

What a load of bull!

Six weeks after Occupy Wall Street was evicted from Zuccotti Park, the nearby Wall Street bull is still completely corralled behind police barricades — enraging tourists and members of the downtown community who want cops to uncage the bronze beast.

Protesters first gathered at the sculpture on the first day of the demonstrations, Sept. 17, before squatted in the park for two months, leading cops to barricade the 3 1/2- ton “Charging Bull” ever since.

Although officers will sometimes ease up and let visitors briefly enter the barricades, climbing on the bull and snapping photos with its famous cojones are strictly off-limits.

The barriers have driven away tourists and the money they spend, community leaders say.

“One of the most popular monuments and sources of tourism is being kept away from the public,” fumed Arthur Piccolo, chairman of the Bowling Green Association. “It is an outlandish decision to keep those barricades there. Uncage the bull!”

Law-enforcement sources say the cops are keeping the barriers up to protect the sculpture from protesters who could vandalize the symbol of wealth and prosperity.

“I know they’re mostly gone from the park, but I saw 10 of them here today,” said a cop guarding the beast yesterday. “Our thinking is that they might come back and try something. We don’t want anything to happen to the bull.”

A sandwich server at Café Plaza on Broadway told The Post that the corral around the bull makes people think the area is closed off. “There’s just no more tourists anymore,” the worker lamented. “[The barricades] make everything look closed, so tourists don’t know to come down here. We are all a little worried.”

Italian sculptor Arturo DiModica created the bull, which faces Broadway in the Bowling Green plaza, in 1989, and it has been a popular spot for visitors ever since then.

“I wanted to get a picture of me riding the bull, so it’s really disappointing!” said Amanda Carpenter, 27, of Toronto.

A police spokesman declined to comment on the barricades.