As anti-corporate protests continue around Wall Street, Mayor Bloomberg said today that he will allow them to stay indefinitely — as long as they follow the law.
“The bottom line is — people want to express themselves. And as long as they obey the laws, we’ll allow them to,” said Bloomberg as he prepared to march in the Columbus Day Parade along Fifth Avenue.
SQUATTERS INVADE OCCUPY WALL STREET
“If they break the laws, then, we’re going to do what we’re supposed to do: enforce the laws.”
Asked how long he would allow the thousands of Occupy Wall Street protests to continue in Zuccotti Park, Bloomberg said he didn’t know.
“I have no idea how much longer. I think part of it has probably to do with the weather,” he said.
Bloomberg had blasted the protesters and their message this past Friday, saying, “What they’re trying to do is to take the jobs from the people working in the city,”
At the same time, Bloomberg has defended the NYPD during several incidents with protesters.
The New York rallies have spawned others around the country, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and San Diego.
Bloomberg, the city’s 108th mayor, has a long track record as a strong defender of first amendment rights.
Last year, he passionately defended plans to build a mosque and cultural center two blocks from the World Trade Center, a controversy that dominated media for months.
“This is the place where you can protest,” Bloomberg said last week, calling New York the “most tolerant, open city in the world.”
“Whether it’s the mosque or anything else, this is a city that values people’s rights and gives them the ability to say what they want to say. I think more so than other city that I know of around the world,” he said.
With NewsCore