Occupy Wall Street: Police clear Zuccotti Park late at night

The New York police began clearing Zuccotti Park in the wee hours on Tuesday, around 1 am East Coast time, following an announcement by the organisers on their website that they planned to “shut down Wall Street” on Thursday to mark two months of the encampment that started others like it across the globe, the The New York Times reported. AP reported that the police handed out notices from the park’s owner, Brookfield Office Properties, and the city saying that the park had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and posed a fire safety hazard. “The police are forming a human shield, and are pushing everyone away,” Rabbi Chaim Gruber, an Occupy Wall Street member, said. Notices given to the protesters said that tents, sleeping bags and other items had to be removed because “the storage of these materials at this location is not allowed.” Anything left behind would be taken away, the notices said, giving an address at a sanitation department building where items could be picked up. [caption id=“attachment_131281” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“NY Police evict campers at Zuccotti park. AP Photo”] [/caption] The New York Mayor’s office tweeted at 1.24 am (11.49 am IST) that “Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protestors can return after the Park is cleared.” The two-month camp, the authorities say will be “cleared and restored”. The New York Times further said: By 1:45 a.m., dozens of officers moved through the park, some bearing plastic shields and wearing helmets. They removed tents and bedding materials, putting them on the sidewalk. Some protesters could be seen leaving the park with their belongings, but a core group of more than 100 hunkered down at the encampment’s kitchen area, linking arms, waving flags, and singing and chanting their refusal to leave the park. They sang “We Shall Overcome,” and chanted at the officers to “disobey your orders.” The protesters who held on to their belongings, were told they could continue their protest but without camping in. They chanted, as they broadcast on their live stream : “All day all week Occupy Wall Street” and “the whole world is watching”. The BBC reported that before this, the camp in Oakland, California was cleared on Monday. [fpgallery id=317] With inputs from AP

Occupy Wall Street: Police clear Zuccotti Park late at night

The New York police began clearing the encampment in the wee hours citing hygiene considerations, and said protesters can return once the area is cleared.

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