ccupy Wall Street demonstrators banged drums, cowbells and upturned frying pans Sunday in a noisy protest near the Manhattan town house of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The protesters said they were angered by Bloomberg’s decision to roust occupiers from their encampment downtown at Zuccotti Park on Tuesday as well as by arrests of journalists trying to cover the day’s events.
“I think Bloomberg has no respect for the First Amendment rights of New Yorkers,” said demonstrator Gayle Price, who carried a sign that had feathers glued to it and said, “Got tar?”
Protesters had hoped to drum in front of the billionaire mayor’s Upper East Side residence but police directed them to a pen nearby on the Central Park side of Fifth Avenue.
Some passers-by said they supported the protests against economic disparities that began in Manhattan two months ago and have spread to cities throughout the country.
“I’m all for it,” said Monica Strauss, who lives in the neighborhood. “I hope they develop a program that’s a little more coherent but I think it’s a start.”
In a bit of street theater, a woman pretending to be a Bloomberg staff member declared: “You have put the mayor under siege … You have reduced the mayor to acting like some sort of medieval warlord.” Protesters who believed that she did work for the mayor shouted: “Shame on Bloomberg.”
Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said protests outside the mayor’s home are “nothing new.” He added, “We work hard to guarantee that anyone can express their views in any area of the city, as long as they do it legally and do not infringe on the rights of others.”
Loeser would not say where Bloomberg was Sunday. The mayor often leaves town on the weekends and does not disclose his whereabouts.
More than 200 people were arrested when police cleared out Zuccotti Park on Tuesday and in protests later that day. Protesters’ belongings including clothing, sleeping bags and electronic gear were taken to a city garage. Protesters have said that some of their property was thrown away.
State Sen. Eric Adams and civil rights lawyer Normal Siegel held a news conference at Zuccotti Park on Sunday to criticize the confiscation of protesters’ property and the arrests of journalists.
“No city agency has the authority to remove property from citizens without giving them receipts,” said Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat and a retired police captain.
Adams said he would write a letter of protest to Bloomberg and would call for City Council hearings.
Loeser said in an email that the property “wasn’t seized — it was left behind in a public space.”
He added, “Protesters had 45 minutes of warning to remove their belongings and many did. Though such property is usually simply disposed of, the city has gone far out of its way to help people claim the property they left in Zuccotti Park.”
He said more than 500 items have been returned to people so far.
Take that, Mr. Mayor! An OWS gal dances to a drum beat outside Bloomberg’s home. (Digital photo by Adam Scull-PHOT)