NEW YORK — Officials in New York City Friday postponed a planned cleanup of the downtown Manhattan park where anti-Wall Street protesters set up camp a month ago, averting what many feared could have been a showdown with authorities.Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the private owner of Zuccotti Park, Brookfield Office Properties, decided late Thursday to delay the cleaning, which had been slated to begin at 7 a.m. He offered no reason for the delay.
Protesters celebrated the postponement at the publicly accessible park, where the mood was festive.
However, at least seven people were seen being arrested when several hundred people left the park and marched through the downtown financial district. A spokesman for the New York Police Department confirmed there were arrests but did not say how many or provide any details.
Many protesters had feared the cleaning would be an attempt to shut down the movement that has sparked solidarity protests in more than 1,400 cities. There were plans for global rallies on Saturday in 71 countries, according to Occupy Together and United for Global Change.
VIDEO: Planning to Occupy Toronto
Protesters are upset that the billions of dollars in U.S. bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had scant relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.
They also believe the richest 1 per cent of Americans do not pay their fair share in taxes.
Roughly 1,000 protesters were on hand early on Friday at the New York park, where many had been up all night cleaning it themselves.
Throughout the park, big buckets were filled with brooms and mops. Many protesters had packed up their belonging in preparation for the cleanup.
“We clean up after ourselves. It’s not like there’s rats and roaches running around the park,” said Bailey Bryant, 28, an employee at a Manhattan bank who visits the camp after work and on weekends.
Some at the park feared a cleanup was still in the works as a ploy to evict them.
“It’s almost too good to be true,” said Sofia Johnson, 17, a high school student from Brooklyn, of the postponed clean up.
“I think it’s still a possibility and in a climate like this, letting your guard down completely seems like a naive thing to do,” she said.
Brookfield has said conditions at the park were “unsanitary and unsafe,” with no toilets and a shortage of garbage cans. Neighbours complained of lewdness, drug use, harassment and offensive odours from the protesters, Brookfield said.
READ MORE: Full coverage of Occupy Wall Street
Brookfield did not immediately respond to calls for comment on Friday morning.
Brookfield representatives, escorted by police, handed out notices to the protesters Thursday to tell them that the park would be cleaned in three stages and would reopen for public use consistent with park regulations.
But the rules ban camping, tents or other structures, lying down on the ground, placing tarps or sleeping bags on the ground, and the storage of personal property — everything the protesters have been doing since they set up on Sept. 17.
In announcing the postponement, the deputy mayor said in a statement that Brookfield was “postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park, and for the time being withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation.”
“Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, and available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown, and we will continue to monitor the situation,” he said.
Hundreds of people have been arrested at rallies in New York, and dozens have been arrested in the past couple of weeks from Boston and Washington, D.C., to Chicago, Austin and San Francisco.
Solidarity rallies have also sprung up at more than 140 U.S. college campuses in 25 states, according to Occupy Colleges.
RELATED STORY: Occupy spreads beyond Wall Street
Meanwhile in Denver dozens of police in riot gear have begun pushing protesters into retreat outside the state capitol, and the protesters are retreating without resisting.
Many of the protesters chanted “Peaceful!” as they backed away from their encampment early Friday.
Officers were placing plastic handcuffs on some protesters.
The protest has led sympathetic groups in other cities: Occupy Boston, Occupy Cincinnati, Occupy Houston, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Philadelphia, Occupy Providence, Occupy Salt Lake and Occupy Seattle, among them.
Occupy Seattle protesters running a live video feed from their corporate power protest at Seattle’s Westlake Park said police started making arrests Thursday. Police confirmed that 10 people were arrested. City law bans camping in parks.
Origin
Source: Toronto Star
No comments:
Post a Comment