The NYPD Didn't Want You To See Occupy Wall Street Get Evicted

A police officer carries trash through Zuccotti Park (AP)

During our coverage of the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early this morning, a NPR reporter, a New York Times reporter, and a city councilmember were arrested. Airspace in Lower Manhattan was closed to CBS and NBC news choppers by the NYPD, a New York Post reporter was allegedly put in a "choke hold" by the police, a NBC reporter's press pass was confiscated and a large group of reporters and protesters were hit with pepper spray. According to the eviction notice, the park was merely "cleaned and restored for its intended use." If this is the case, why were so few people permitted to view it?

"Get the fuck back! Fuck back I said!" The NYPD officer's voice was amplified behind the plexiglass helmet as he violently shoved protesters and reporters away from the intersection of Cortland and Broadway, one block from Zuccotti Park. It was 1:20 a.m., shortly after the police cordoned off the park to prepare for the cleaning. Requests to gain entry or move south down Broadway to see what was happening were met with the reply, "We have to clear the sidewalk." One protester asked, "Isn't the sidewalk public space?" The riot shields kept moving forward. "Clear the sidewalk. Move! Now!"

Police began vigorously jamming the torsos of those who stood on the sidewalk with their batons. One officer mockingly shouted, "Shame! Shame!" as he angrily shoved protesters further back up Broadway. A strong scent of vinegar punctuated the air, and a row of protesters groaned in pain. Water materialized out of the crowd and the demonstrators began pouring it into the afflicted's eyes.

Hundreds of NYPD officers filled Broadway in a show of force (Gothamist)

Cornell Brown, a producer at an ad agency who lives on Wall Street, tried to speak with a police officer during a lull. "I know you're just doing your job," he said, "But you have to see that this shit is wrong." The officer shrugged. Brown snaps a photo. "You know they're hurting inside because they're on the wrong side of history. You have to feel bad for them."

After approaching the west side of the park at Church and Cortland at around 2 a.m., a police officer standing behind a barricade is asked why members of the press aren't permitted to view what's happening under the massive flood lights in Zuccotti Park. "Stay behind the barricade." Would two employees watching the door at One Liberty Plaza let us in to take photos of the park from behind glass? "We got in trouble for that already," one replied. "We let the press in. The cops yelled at us. Now get out of here, walk south."

Zuccotti Park is bright with flood lights as the police bar access to the west end of the park on Church Street (Gothamist)

No NYPD officer seemed to be in possession of the eviction notice. A man holding a copy on Church Street offered to let us shoot a picture of the text, but wouldn't let us touch it. "I'm putting it on ebay," he said. "I want my grandkids to know that I had a copy of this notice."

As the police pushed the crowds further from the park, it was clear that no one assembled on the corner of Cortland and Broadway would witness what was happening in Zuccotti Park. Shen Tong, one of the organizers of the student democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989, tried to mobilize a group to head north and find more protesters.

"Who here is committed?" he asks, grabbing the shoulders of a few demonstrators who appear to be college-aged. "I need you to stay while I go find the other group." As Tong walks north, he finds that he cannot move. John Street has been blocked by the NYPD.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Christopher Robbins in News on November 15, 2011 7:17 AM

Comments [rss]

purejuice

don't stop. looking forward to your coverage of the march on thursday. be careful out there.
xxx

Rob

occupy waaaaahhhhh street

TJHillgardner

You guys so outclass the New York Times in reporting on OWS. I am changing my home page to the Gothamist.

SirLoneWolf

Photo labeled "Officer is carrying trash." The officer is trashing someone’s personal belongings. Thought you would like to know.

Jerry Mia

Wiki definition: Hippies rejected established institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Eastern philosophy,[18] championed sexual liberation, were often vegetarian and eco-friendly...

(Hippies versus the cops? The "squares?" Really?? Is that what this is about? I had no idea. I thought it was about Wall Street committing mass fraud and causing the mortgage meltdown, bribing judges, lobbying...crap like that. Peace out, man.)

and: Hippie fashions and values had a major effect on culture, influencing popular music, television, film, literature, and the arts. Since the movement in the 1960s, many aspects of hippie culture have been assimilated by mainstream society. The religious andcultural diversity espoused by the hippies has gained acceptance, and Eastern philosophy and spiritual concepts have reached a larger audience. The hippie legacy can be observed in contemporary culture in myriad forms, including health food, music festivals, contemporary sexual mores, and even the cyberspace revolution.[2]
So what's the problem? Health food? Eco friendly? Music? Cyberspace?

AdamS

Hmm, so much for freedom of the press.

Samantha Nicholson

I hope they're getting paid well to clean that crap up.

Frank Sinclair

Cops like that are why I carry a gun.

FUCKING COPS!

Kevin Schmidt

There is nothing at all in the First Amendment about permits, curfews, safety and health issues, megaphones, drugs, tents, sleeping bags, generators, books, teach ins, being naked or saying mean things about the gilded fascist elite. It doesn't even mention the number of people required to be an assembly or if they must be U.S. citizens.

The only requirement to a constitutionally lawful assembly is being peaceful.

This kind of violence being committed by the police under orders of their city administrators is also Domestic Terrorism as defined by the U.S. Patriot Act.

People should start pressing charges against these domestic terrorists. Take their photos, get videos and get witnesses willing to testify. Then go to the DA's office and demand arrests! Then go to the FBI, the CIA or even to the military and demand the criminals be designated as domestic terrorists. The law is for everyone to use, so use it!

Under the USA PATRIOT ACT, Section 802 of HR 3162 defines domestic terrorism as activities that:

1.) "involve acts dangerous to human life"

2.) "that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States"

3.) "appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;" or "to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion"

Dave D

Soon the police will have a press pool and embedded journalists like the CPA did in Iraq....

remyngtin

why aren't you tools at OWS with the riff raff if you feel so strong about it ????

whiny losers

"Tim Osman"

contrary to popular belief there are many people that are involved and/or support OWS that also work and have families

Samantha Nicholson

.....

"Tim Osman"

exactly

NYCitified

wait, you want your grandkids to know you had copy of the eviction notice......by immediately selling it for profit?! That doesn't even make sense.....

nomadnewyork(Adrian)

A friend of mine visited the park for the first time last night and remarked about how clean she thought it was! Not only that, but ows had a sponsor who had already promised the city and the mayor that he would pay to clean up the park, so um, <redacted></redacted>

TomE

These clowns need to wake up...they must be under the assumption that this is the United Socialist States of America.Its time for these dirty hippies to return to their folks basements where they belong smoking pot and playing video games. Read this and tell me these guys aren't idiots! - Official list of Occupy Wall Street demands per occupywallst.org Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. Unionize ALL workers immediately. Raise the minimum wage immediately to $18/hr. Create a maximum wage of $90/hr to eliminate inequality. Institute a 6 hour workday, and 6 weeks of paid vacation. Institute a moratorium on all foreclosures and layoffs immediately. Repeal racist and xenophobic English-only laws. Open the borders to all immigrants, legal or illegal. Offer immediate, unconditional amnesty, to all undocumented residents of the US . Create a single-payer, universal health care system. Pass stricter campaign finance reform laws. Ban all private donations. All campaigns will receive equal funding, provided by the taxpayers. Institute a negative income tax, and tax the very rich at rates up to 90%. Pass far stricter environmental protection and animal rights laws. Allow workers to elect their supervisors. Lower the retirement age to 55. Increase Social Security benefits. Create a 5% annual wealth tax for the very rich. Ban the private ownership of land. Make homeschooling illegal. Religious fanatics use it to feed their children propaganda. Reduce the age of majority to 16. Abolish the death penalty and life in prison. We call for the immediate release of all death row inmates from death row and transferred to regular prisons. Release all political prisoners immediately. Immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan . Abolish the debt limit. Ban private gun ownership. Strengthen the separation of church and state. Immediate debt forgiveness for all. End the 'War on Drugs'........ Well this certainly would break the country!
Its time for these dirty hippies to return to their folks basements where they belong smoking pot and playing video games. Read this and tell me these guys aren't idiots! -

Official list of Occupy Wall Street demands per occupywallst.org

Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. Unionize ALL workers immediately.
Raise the minimum wage immediately to $18/hr. Create a maximum wage of $90/hr to eliminate inequality.
Institute a 6 hour workday, and 6 weeks of paid vacation.
Institute a moratorium on all foreclosures and layoffs immediately.
Repeal racist and xenophobic English-only laws.
Open the borders to all immigrants, legal or illegal. Offer immediate, unconditional amnesty, to all undocumented residents of the US .
Create a single-payer, universal health care system.
Pass stricter campaign finance reform laws. Ban all private donations. All campaigns will receive equal funding, provided by the taxpayers.
Institute a negative income tax, and tax the very rich at rates up to 90%.
Pass far stricter environmental protection and animal rights laws.
Allow workers to elect their supervisors.
Lower the retirement age to 55. Increase Social Security benefits.
Create a 5% annual wealth tax for the very rich.
Ban the private ownership of land.
Make homeschooling illegal. Religious fanatics use it to feed their children propaganda.
Reduce the age of majority to 16.
Abolish the death penalty and life in prison. We call for the immediate release of all death row inmates from death row and transferred to regular prisons.
Release all political prisoners immediately.
Immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan .
Abolish the debt limit.
Ban private gun ownership.
Strengthen the separation of church and state.
Immediate debt forgiveness for all.
End the 'War on Drugs'........ Well this certainly would break the country!

rehtaehva

If you read the website, you will see that those suggestions are just that - suggestions, proposed by a single user; not a statement of their agreed-upon demands, submitted on 10/23 without further discussion. Read the comments that follow and you'll see many do not endorse that list. http://occupywallst.org/forum/...

Guest

If you read the website, you will see that those suggestions are just that - suggestions, proposed by a single user; not a statement of their agreed-upon demands, submitted on 10/23 without further discussion. Read the comments that follow and you'll see many do not endorse that list. http://occupywallst.org/forum/...

CityFace

Liked your post by accident because I saw the list of demands and agree with most of them, or at least that there should be a serious discussion about them. Didn't realize that your first paragraph was heartfelt and not dripping with tasty sarcasm.