Occupy Wall Street:NYC backs down

Occupy Wall Street Park Cleaning Postponed After NYC Protest

BLOOMBERG

15 October, 2011

A confrontation between Occupy Wall Street demonstrators and New York City police was avoided after Brookfield Office Properties Inc. postponed cleaning its Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, where the protesters have been camping out for almost a month.

“Brookfield believes they can work out an arrangement with the protesters that will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use and that the situation is respectful of residents and businesses downtown,” Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway said in an e-mail today.

Protesters vowed to “defend the occupation” after police said they wouldn’t allow them to return with sleeping bags and other gear following the cleaning, under rules set by the private park’s owner.

Demonstrators formed cleanup crews that swept and mopped through the night as crowds gathered ahead of the owner’s planned move. More than 3,000 people had gathered at the site, according to an e-mail from Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman.

“I’ve slept here, and the conditions are more sanitary than my own apartment,” said Max Hodes, 28, from Brooklyn, who said he’s a member of the protesters’ crew that swept and scrubbed the area last night. “We have a moral imperative to stay here,” he said, standing next to brooms and buckets.

For article GO HERE