The annual holiday lights went up yesterday in a suddenly tentless and spruced-up Zuccotti Park — but things were hardly back to normal at the symbolic epicenter of the anti-Wall Street movement.
Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators — including the cacophonous drum circle — were back, pushing their anti-greed message while testing the limits of rules in a public-private space.
More than 50 cops watched from the perimeter, as Brookfield Properties security tried to keep protesters from lugging in comforters, skateboards and even musical instruments, although a table was set up with free food.
Still, it was the return of the banging drums that most upset nearby residents — and that could ruin Mayor Bloomberg’s afternoon today. The demonstrators said last night that they plan to post a 24-hour drum circle in front of Bloomberg’s Upper East Side home beginning at 2 this afternoon.