Kelly: Protesters Won't Be Able to Bring Sleeping Bags Back Into Park After Cleanup

[WilliamPitt]

Source: NBC New York

Occupy Wall Street protesters will not be allowed to bring their sleeping bags back into Zuccotti Park after they leave for a city-ordered cleanup of the premises Friday morning, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said Thursday.

Mayor Bloomberg appeared at the park Wednesday evening to inform protesters that cleaning crews will be dispatched there at the end of the week.

Kelly said cleanup crews will enter the park at about 7 a.m. Friday and the clean-up process will take place in four-hour intervals.

He also said protesters will not be able to bring their sleeping bags, among other items, into the park once they are allowed back in, which may hamper their ability to weather the elements amid an anticipated cold front expected to roll through the area.

Read more: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Zuccotti-Park-Wall-Street-Protest-Bloomberg-Kelly-131796173.html

[tridim]

1. Bloomberg is a fucking snake

Bring your "bed rolls" instead.

[mike_c]

2. then they fight you...

Then you win.

[PSPS]

3. It's private property, isn't it?

[thereismore]

5. Exactly my thinking. I can carry my sleeping bag with me everywhere else in NYC. So why not there. n

[Hosnon]

13. The article states that the guidelines come from the property owner.

Not sure who decided to push for them though.

[No Elephants]

22. Bloomberg's domestic partner is a member of the board of directors of the owner of the property.

[Starlight]

39. These aren't new rules.

I work right across the street from the park. The rules that are posted are the same rules that have always been in effect at the park. The protesters have been breaking numerous park rules from day one.

[defendandprotect]

4. kr

[Lint Head]

6. I'm wondering how long this will be peaceful. You can only mess with folks for so long.

Anti violence is were it's at but considering human nature it requires a lot of will power. MLK had the message and his words were the glue that held the non violent civil rights movement together. I just hope the communal message is as strong. We are fighting the financial power elite. The dilemma is that the power elite own the police.

[SoapBox]

7. And you just know that some of the 1% Powerful and Controling...

would just love to see a fight break out (provoked?) at any event.

That is all they would need, to call out the Police Militia / Goon Squads (and sorry, but they look
just like Storm Troopers / Goose Steppers in those outfits) AND to put a stop to all of the OWS events nationwide.

[sce56]

9. But the NYPD has such a outstanding Reputation!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5025450
Source: New York Daily News

A former NYPD narcotics detective snared in a corruption scandal testified it was common practice to fabricate drug charges against innocent people to meet arrest quotas.

The bombshell testimony from Stephen Anderson is the first public account of the twisted culture behind the false arrests in the Brooklyn South and Queens narc squads, which led to the arrests of eight cops and a massive shakeup.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

23. it does stand out, I agree.

[Amonester]

14. gawd-awful "tried" that... didn't work too well... n t

[AsahinaKimi]

8. So he will have the cops arrest people for having a sleeping bag?

That should fill up your jails nicely. Hope you have the room.
I can bet whats coming next; No one will be allowed to wear a coat, while in the Park.

[RoccoR5955]

10. Note to self: When travelling to NYC...

...ALWAYS carry a sleeping bag!
BASS TURDS!
I knew that Bloomie was up to some bovine fecal matter, and this is it! The frikin' rat bass turd!

[slay]

11. So - does he want them to freeze to death?

what the fuck man - i hope the protesters refuse to leave. "cleanup" my ass!!!!

[plumbob]

12. So bring two or three blankets and that's ok?

I mean, that's not a BAG.

Makes me want to carry a bag everywhere, and I'm in Texas.

[jwirr]

15. Has it occurred to anyone who ironic it is to tell people they cannot

bring a blanket into a park? That has always been standard gear of a picnic.

[MADem]

17. The rule is apparently no sleeping bags--not blankets.

That said, one could take a sleeping bag and fashion it into a garment of sorts and wear it. Poke a hole for your head in the bottom and a pair of armholes...and shuffle around looking like gumby!

[jwirr]

18. Another way around this stupid rule.

[nichomachus]

25. I just read that they're going to ban lying down in the park

Fucking fascists -- tell me again how we're different than the USSR?

[bdamomma]

16. they should just find another place but never surrender

authority just hates when the people have something to say, damn.

[Fuddnik]

19. Camp out in front of Bloombergs house. On his lawn.

[red dog 1]

20. "Financial Giants Put New York City Cops On Their Payroll"

October 10, 2011

"Videos are springing up all over the Internet showing uniformed members of the NYPD in white shirts (as opposed to the NYPD blue uniforms) pepper spraying and brutalizing peaceful nonthreatening protesters attempting to take part in the Occupy Wall Street marches. Corporate media are reporting that these white shirts are police supervisors as opposed to rank and file. Recently discovered documents suggest something else may be at work."

"One of the ingenious methods that has remained below the publics' radar was started by the Rudy Giuliani Administration in New York City in 1998. It's called the "Paid Detail Unit", and it allows the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street corporations, including those repeatedly charged with crimes, to order up a flank of New York's finest with the ease of dialing the deli for a pastrami on rye.
The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension, health, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs, and the ability to arrest.
The officer is indemnified by the taxpayer, not the corporation."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/10/financial-giants-put-new-york-city-cops-on-their-payroll/

[durablend]

24. Koch Keystone Kops, no doubt n/t

[red dog 1]

26. Actually, they're Giuliani's Keystone Kops!

[concord]

21. Hang tight folks ... this is just the beginning n/t

[Chan790]

27. What are the options?

Off the top of my head as a former Manhattanite:

*Relocate to the Battery? It's not as near Wall Street as Zuccotti Park but it's close enough and it's public land. Downside: It's right on the harbor and the harbor winds are cold. Winter will be brutal.

*Relocate to Central Park? It's in midtown and nowhere near Wall St. It provides a vast amount of space though and there are plenty of corporate evils to protest in Midtown. The headquarters of the banks tend to be closer to Midtown than Wall St. Someone posted a list the other day on Twitter and the banks HQs are all near GCT for the most part. The southern end of the park is in the mid-50s...GCT is on 42nd IIRC.

*Find a sympathetic landowner who supports the cause and will oppose rather than support the city.

*Use the homeless people's exploit...get a subway pass and ride the subway all night and sleep in packs and shifts. You'd need to develop a comm system of some effectiveness to warn that the transit cops are coming as it's illegal to sleep on the trains. Someone sends the word and everybody needs to be awake and upright. Use the A-train, it's the longest run at over 3 hours end to end.

*Retake Zucotti Park and wager that they can't arrest everybody.

*I'm pretty sure that there are churches in that area who might be willing to provide overnight shelter.

There are others I'm sure that I just can't think of. When they started this, they had to have had a winterizing plan...so what was it? They knew they were digging in for the long-haul on OWS. It was not viable to plan to sleep in the park all late-Fall and Winter...NYC gets cold and snowy by November.

[JDPriestly]

28. They probably should simply move to a different location.

There has to be a public park in the area in which they can exercise free speech all night long. They can move into Zuccotti Park during the days. They can divide into two groups -- one in the new public park where they can sleep and days, Zuccotti Park. Some people could sit up all night in shifts at Zuccotti to prevent it from being taken over.

This "private ownership" thing is exactly what the protestors are about. The wealthy amass unreasonably large fortunes, fortunes that allow them to claim control of the rare accessible, open areas in a city and then make the rules. That deprives ordinary people from making democratic decisions about the space they use for recreation, for their health and well-being.

I seriously doubt that Mr. Zucotti spends much time in this park that he has bought for himself.

Back in the day, wealthy property owners put gates around private parks that they as a select group owned. We are returning to that. Doesn't the city own any open space in the area?

[Abq_Sarah]

33. The city saw a benefit in having public spaces

They didn't have to pay for. They get credit for having more open space but they don't have to pay for maintenance and they get to collect property taxes. Quite a few cities use this method to increase urban "open spaces" at no cost to taxpayers.

[6000eliot]

29. Fucking lying scumbags.

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. See OWS response: This is an occupation, not a permitted picnic.

Starting at midnight through tomorrow morning, we will hold our ground against police aggression and assert the right of the people to peaceful assembly. The following are links to resources on using nonviolent tactics to defend Liberty Plaza.

More:

http://occupywallst.org/

[sce56]

31. Well I signed a petition how about you!

BREAKING NEWS: The New York Times reports that Mayor Michael Bloomberg may force protesters from Zuccotti Park -- effectively evicting Occupy Wall Street.

We have less than 24 hours to stop it -- please sign this emergency petition.

"Mayor Bloomberg: Respect First Amendment rights. Don't try to evict Occupy Wall Street." Sign here.

Bloomberg is claiming the eviction is "temporary" for "cleaning" the park -- the exact excuse used to permanently end prior protests.

Even if the protesters return, they may have to follow ridiculous new rules like "No sleeping bags" -- completely undercutting the permanent occupation that is raising the nation's awareness of corporate greed.

We need a national groundswell immediately. This petition will be delivered by our friends at MoveOn to Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall tonight.



Thanks for being a bold progressive.

-- Neil Sroka, Kristiane Skolmen, Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Forrest Brown, and the PCCC team

[IDemo]

32. Do mayors normally hold the power to issue arbitrary rules?

And I know - he who signs the paychecks of the Pepper Spray Dept. pretty much has the power to do anything he wants, but legally?

[dipsydoodle]

34. The "arbitary rules"

appear to be those of the property owners from replies above : not the mayor.

[EFerrari]

35. Except the owners have no ability to suspend the constitution.

The mayor is full of baloney.

[dipsydoodle]

36. I was simply pointing out

what someone else seemed incapable of reading. I'm guessing the issue is associated with the property owners having agreed to "pedestrian access" to the property.

Whatever.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

38. Oh, I see. Yes, the details were posted.

I'm just sort of fascinated by the way almost all of the PTB at these venues concoct their various stories, excuses to try to remain in control of these demos when they clearly have very little control.

In Egypt, the security forces even appeared on camels and they put snipers on the roof accross from Tahrir Square, remember?

Unless the NYPD is also willing to use snipers or live rounds, the protesters are in a good position as long as they are present in numbers. :hi:

[lunatica]

37. The OWS has only two choices

I think they made their choice before they even came out. These people are educated and very smart. They understand civil disobedience. They're probably way ahead of the thugs and of the Mayor.