Build Up To A Raid: NYPD Planned Occupy Wall Street Eviction For Weeks

Cops at Zuccotti, after the raid (Dan Nguyen's flickr)

The NYPD planned Monday night's raid of Zuccotti Park for weeks, starting soon after its first attempt to clear the park failed in October. Only top brass knew the raid was coming and the officers involved—mostly rookies and borough task forces—were told Monday night that they were going to do a mobilization drill under the FDR, not evict a peaceful protest (so the Hipster Cop was telling the truth!).

As a police source told the Times: "The only people who were aware of them going into Zuccotti Park were at the very highest levels of the department." The first person who seems to have figured out what was happening? Uh, Questlove, natch.

Mayor Bloomberg and Ray Kelly chose 1 a.m. as the time to start the raid because Kelly felt "it was appropriate to do it when the smallest number of people were in the park." He chose late Monday night because apparently Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the days when the most cops are on duty—in case something terrible happened. Not to mention the fact that Bloomberg, worried about his reputation, didn't want to risk further embarrassment with OWS threatening to shut down the NYSE on Thursday.

Bloomberg and Kelly at yesterday's press conference discussing the eviction (NYC Mayor's Office)

Kelly and Bloomberg also specifically kept the whole thing under wraps to prevent a repeat performance of their first stab, in which advance warning of the raid gave protesters and the media ample time to collect themselves for a hard slog with lots of media attention.

To get the ball rolling this time, hundreds of NYPD officers about to finish up on Monday night were suddenly told their shifts had been extended. "They thought they were going home and were as surprised as anyone when they got the word that they had a new assignment," a police official told DNAinfo.

Cops from across the city were sent with their "hats and bats" (or, helmets and batons) down to Pike Slip and the FDR, near the Manhattan Bridge, before moving out. Or, in the words of Questlove, "Omg, drivin down south st near #ows. Somethin bout to go down yo, swear I counted 1000 riot gear cops bout to pull sneak attack #carefulyall"

In the build up to the raid, the NYPD wasn't just planning the right time and method to strike, they also ran a number of large-scale drills with an eye towards Zuccotti and carefully monitored how Occupy protests were dismantled in other cities (apparently there was a telephone conference with 18 mayors of occupied cities, though a Bloomberg spokesman says he was not on the call). Further, "Officials increased so-called disorder training—counterterrorism measures that involve moving large numbers of police officers quickly—to focus on Lower Manhattan." Practice makes perfect, after all?

Once the cops had collected and received their orders they headed to the park with their loudspeakers, klieg lights and threatening demeanors. And, well, then this happened.

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

By Garth Johnston in News on November 16, 2011 10:00 AM

Comments [rss]

sevensamurai

The press was not allowed near the eviction, journalists were arrested, helicopters secured the airspace to keep the American people in the dark about how the police handled the eviction. What does anyone want to call this? Freedom of the press? Freedom? Is this the freedom that our soldiers fight for, lose their lives for? I think not. This media black out is nothing but a blatant violation of the Constitution. Bloomberg's claim that he was 'protecting' the journalists is an insult to our intelligence. Anyone with a brain knows it's a lie. It's as if he's taunting the American people, it's as if he's saying that he does not follow the law of the land. We are supposed to respect this. No wonder our country has become so lawless. Wells Fargo got away with laundering 400 billion dollars for the Mexican drug cartels, they just paid a fine. No wonder Bank of New York Mellon stole from pension funds, they too just got a fine. No wonder Bank of America committed fraud to forge documents and illegally foreclosed on people's homes, some of whom had paid their mortgages. No wonder the world is going to hell.

Rob

Nice. Now I can take a walk through the park without tripping over a filthy hippy. They can go occupy Yankee stadium now. They make lots of money too.

"Tim Osman"

You must be a Mets fan

ed_Ex2

Now that's funny!

randomtransplant

I notice how Berry calls for national soul searching about the football riots, and acts like he didn't use his own Ops forces on this.
Looks like we know where he stands, throwing rocks at his former base from behind the riot shields.

48 hours ago, I would never have called this president I campaigned for a Benidict Arnold. But 48 hours ago, his true intentions were still dishonestly hidden.

Bloomie shops for the right Judge. Berry offshores to the local goons. The country lurches and stumbles ever closer to falling over itself like an unemployed foreclosed drunk face-planting into the curb.

LittleBiggyGirl

have the Occupiers made any real difference or instigated any significant changes? Or will theirs be a legacy of resentment and self imposed chaos?

http://littlebiggy.org/4660547

edgie168

yeah keep spamming the same comment in various Occupy posts cuz that'll really tell 'em

souper_crackers

I don't know if the eviction had hopes of ending OWS, but I've been hearing non-stop coverage of it ever since. I don't think that's the victory they hoped for.

theevilerone

I cannot believe that a group of people who know everything were outsmarted by the lowly NYPD.

"Tim Osman"

How exactly was anyone outsmarted by the NYPD? The police are the police and if they really want to do something they will do it - they have the guns and the resources and sometimes the law on their side. So they won a little battle. But the war is not between OWS and the NYPD - the NYPD are simply pawns for the billionaires and politicians.

edgie168

NYPD has guns n pepper spray n shit brah

Samantha Nicholson

But they are OWS protesters! They're invincible!

edgie168

well, if you introduced them to your therapist, then maybe they'll leave...

SonnyBobiche

I think this cartoon expresses the distorted world view of the Gothamist editors.

EdwardAmame

The Tea Party calls for an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, which it identifies with fundamentalist Christian principles, seeks to limit governmental powers, and opposes wealth redistribution and economic interventionism. It not only opposes practices it terms collectivism, totalitarianism, and communism, but socialism and fascism as well, which it asserts is infiltrating US governmental administration.

Oops, my bad. That's not the Tea Party, that's the John Birch Society according to Wikipedia.

mattbrooklyn

Well, I am pretty sure that the Tea Party folks were the ones bringing the guns to their protests. So, you know, you got that part wrong.

Also, isn't the Tea Party the party of the whole "Let him die!" chant, and the part of the whole cheering-for-more-executions thing?

The OWS folks are, to be sure, a bit less-washed than the Tea Party folks, so I guess there is that dirt-thing going against them.

So, you know, since the whole "terrorist" thing is usually associated with weapons and death, and there is no anti-taking-showers platform in most terrorist propaganda, it seems like Tea Party actually is a bit more like terrorists than OWS people.

So, yeah, I guess that little cartoon you posted isn't so nutty after all.

Huh.

SonnyBobiche

Wouldn't want you to miss this one either.

mattbrooklyn

ok ok here's my idea for a cartoon. tell me what you think.

on one side is a heavily armed KKK member with his foot on an immigrant's head. the KKK guy is saying, "Be my slave, you dirty illegal!"

on the other side is a clean-cut hopeful young college grad with her pockets filled with job applications, and in her hand is a bill for $100,000 in college debt.

above the KKK guy it says: Tea Party.
above the college grad it says: Occupy Wall Street

that's good, right?

Mordicai

Crack! Oh man, he really got ahold of that one...oh...homerun!

(did I use that sport's metaphor correctly? I mean to say, you hilariously demolished that stupid cartoon.)

StarryGordon

If you look at Nazi propaganda of the 1930s, or Dixiecrat anti-Negro and anti-Civil Rights propaganda of the '50s and '60s, you'll often observe themes of pollution, disease and decay. The idea is that anyone who does not subscribe to their authoritarian vision is a kind of pathogen, to be eliminated by any means necessary.