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Hair’s one way to make your point!
A squad of volunteer barbers unleashed their shears on the masses of Occupy Wall Street yesterday for some much-needed grooming — or, in one case (above), to make a boldly bald protest statement.
The sudden interest in personal hygiene wasn’t just an effort by the shaggy hordes to clean up their act — it was another piece of street theater targeting banks that punish consumers who can’t pay their bills.
The protesters complained that while banks go after deadbeat Everyday Joes, they renegotiate sweetheart deals for wealthy corporations that don’t pay back loans on time.
“In banking, when a lender has to accept that a loan will not be paid back in full, the lender must then write the loan value down for a loss. This is called taking a ‘haircut,’ ” the protesters said in a statement.
Bernard Krapcha, 44, a nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center with shoulder-length locks, signed up for a free trim.
“When I saw it was about banks and giving people some relief, I thought, ‘I have a lot of hair,’ ” said Krapcha, who paid part of his tuition with a credit card but saw his interest rate skyrocket after missing a payment. “If bankers can write off billions of dollars of debt, why can’t they give regular people some relief?”
Nelson Davila, 42, of Springfield, Mass., arrived with a crew of other Bay State barbers for the day.
“We came down here because of our customers. They’re hurting, and if they hurt, we hurt,” he said.
Earlier yesterday, about 20 protesters donned suits and marched to the Wall Street bull statue at about 1 p.m. The protesters chanted, “We are going to the bull, and we are going to castrate it!”
They then ordered pepperoni pizzas and offered the first slice to unamused cops, who had followed them on foot and scooters.
“We are here to thank the police for their hard work,” shouted Mike Bonanno, 43.
“If the pizza does not arrive, we will castrate the bull.”
But the cops left before the pizzas arrived, and the protesters trudged back to Zuccotti Park. The bull went unscathed.
Not every protester got in on the festivities yesterday.
The hippie Florida mom who ditched her husband and four kids to join the movement was nowhere to be found at the Zuccotti Park encampment or her home in Deland, Fla., where her husband slammed the door on a reporter.
Stacey Hacker Hessler, 38, had told The Post last week, “I’m here indefinitely. Forever.”