Cops busted at least 35 protesters yesterday after they broke into a private park in Manhattan to mark the three-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street.
The marchers also shattered the window of a Starbucks on the corner of Varick and Spring Streets with a brick as they marched uptown.
Bishop George Packard climbs a fence along with other protesters. (Getty Images)
The illegal occupation of Duarte Square Park in TriBeCa was a recreation of a similar stunt the group pulled after they were evicted from Zuccotti Park last month.
They attempted the new land grab by ripping holes in a fence, and using ladders to climb over it.
Among those arrested were Bishop George Packard, a former chaplain for the armed services and decorated Vietnam veteran who has acted as the liaison in negotiations between Trinity Church and protesters as the movement had sought permission to use the church owned property as a new base of operations.
He’s been joined in his efforts by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
The event “is part of a call to reoccupy in the wake of the coordinated attacks and subsequent evictions of occupations across the nation and around the world,” an e-mailed statement from protesters said.
On his blog last week, Packard wrote that Duarte Square could be the new home for OWS “or not.” He added: “Trinity might mobilize platoons of police in riot gear and ring this sad little place with multiple barricades. No room at this Inn!”
Packard was among the first to use a crumbling set of wooden stairs to jump the fence at Duarte yesterday and lead protesters into the park.
“People are hopping the fence and the cops are cutting down the fence to get them,” a protester e-mailed The Post at the height of the mayhem.
After the arrests, several hundred protesters circled the park chanting, “Bloomberg Beware!” and “Zuccotti is Everywhere!”.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Harshbarger