Opinion

Zuccotti anarchy

Does rape now go unreported at Zuccotti Park — and no one cares?

So it would seem.

The Post first reported — weeks ago — that women were being molested by members of the rag-tag Occupy Wall Street group holding court at the Zuccotti encampment.

The response: Ho-hum.

Now comes news — reported in The Post on Sunday — that a woman was sexually assaulted at the site around 6 a.m. Saturday.

Other “Occupiers” scared off the assailant — but nobody called the cops.

“We don’t tell anyone,” a woman identifying herself only as Leslie told The Post. “We handle it internally. I said too much already.”

Well, yes, maybe she did.

Fact is, the crime wasn’t handled internally — it wasn’t “handled” at all.

(The best the activists could do was yell “pervert” and watch the creep run off.)

The encampment has been plagued by petty crime all along — stolen property, drug-dealing and so on — and now this.

And it may not even have been the first sexual assault. Protesters told Post reporters that there has been at least one other, and that harassment and attempted molestations have been everyday occurrences.

The protesters are taking a perverse pride in refusing to cooperate with authorities — organized crime’s “omerta” tradition resonates — but the romance of that will evaporate quickly enough when the serious injuries start to pile up.

Or worse.

Among the drugs apparently being abused at the park is crystal meth — in its own way, a violence vector akin to what crack was two decades ago.

Apart from that, the Zuccotti Park encampment has been attracting the emotionally disturbed, petty criminals and garden-variety vagrants all along.

To be sure, there are significant free-speech issues in play at the site.

But there must be limits, as well.

Just as one may not falsely shout fire in the proverbial crowded theater, the First Amendment may not properly be used as cover for a crime wave.

Combine that with the growing public-health issues in play at Zuccotti Park, and it becomes clear that the Occupy Wall Street squat-in has passed its sell-by date — at least in its present form.

It’s bewildering that City Hall has been unable to summon the will to do its clear duty.

We wonder: What will it take to get the administration to act?

A dead body?