Time to go home!
The NYPD has begun evicting the hundreds of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators that have been encamped in Zuccotti Park for almost two months.
More than 1,000 cops raided the shantytown just after 1 a.m., less than a day after the movement announced plans for a series of disruptive protests outside the Stock Exchange and throughout the subway system.
By 4 a.m., a group of holdouts — some of whom chained themselves around structures with bike locks around their necks — remained surrounded by riot gear-clad police officers, while a mob of several hundred ousted demonstrators roamed Manhattan further north.
Hours before the massive operation commenced at around 1 a.m., Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano and other officials convened in secret at City Hall to greenlight the campaign to clear the park, sources said.
“They’re going to go in and do this because of health violations and the rising crime,” said a source.
Cops handed out flyers early this morning declaring that, “The city has determined that the continued occupation of Zuccotti Park poses an increasing health and fire safety hazard,” to protesters as well as first responders, and ordered personal property removed.
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Last night, more than 1,000 cops – mainly rookies and officers assigned to borough task forces – reported at around 11 p.m. for formations under the FDR between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, sources said.
“They were told it was a mobilization drill, but to bring their hats and bats,” said one source, referring to protective head-gear and batons.
Demonstrators complained of heavy-handed police tactics in the eviction chaos. Husband-and-wife protest pair Matt and Liz Baldwin had initially tried to remain in the park but voluntarily left after witnessing what they said was police butality.
“They’re beating people in there,” Matt Baldwin said. “My wife’s pregnant. I had to get her out of there before they beat her and killed my baby … we made it clear we were nonviolent.”
Police were seein using batons to beat a group of protesters who tried to join a roving mob on Centre Street by crossing the street in a crosswalk and with the green light.
The total number of arrests before cops swept through the tent community was 1,108, according to the NYPD.
On Thursday, the Occupy Wall Street movement, according to the group’s Web site, planned “Mass, Non-violent Direct Action” to “Shut Down Wall Street” at 7 a.m., “Occupy the Subways” in all five boroughs at 3 p.m. and “Take the Square,” referring to Foley Square, at 5 p.m.
Protest organizers were also touting signs alluding to China’s infamous Tiananmen Square revolt.
The poster advertising the event uses the image of the lone Chinese protester confronting tanks in China’s Tiananmen Square as rows of supporters stand in the background.
Earlier yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg dismissed the notion that Wall Street would be shut down.
“The New York Stock Exchange will open on time. People will be able to get to work, you can rest assured,” Hizzoner said.
Bloomberg reiterated his support for the protesters’ right to free speech but said he was aware that business owners — about 10 of whom rallied against the protest today at City Hall — have legitimate complaints.
“We’re not going to allow people to stop commerce and to stop people’s right to go around and express themselves. No one group has the right to protest. They all have the right to protest,” Bloomberg said.
Police mass at South Street and Pike near Zuccotti Park. (Kendall Rodriguez)
Time to go: Police announce that Occupy protesters will have to clear Zuccotti Park. (Kendall Rodriguez)
The crackdown follows the actions of other fed-up cities across the nation that cleared the filthy squatters’ camps from their downtowns. Oakland, Calif., cops dressed in riot gear and armed with tear gas cleared out an encampment early yesterday and arrested over 30 amid safety and health complaints.
Sunday, riot police in Portland, Ore., evicted protesters from two camps in that city, arresting over 50 people. The same day in Vermont, protesters agreed to remove their tents from a Burlington park after a demonstrator killed himself in a tent.
— with AP