I went down to Zuccotti Park early
Friday morning where the city was poised to use the cover of park
cleaning to evict Occupy Wall Street. If what follows seems a bit
confusing it may be because I was running, and still am running, on
three hours sleep and most of it is off the top of my head because I
was traveling without my usual backpack of toys. All I took along was
Ash's old Nikon, the largest cup of coffee I could find at 5 AM, my
phone zipped tight in my jacket, and the cell number of Ash's lawyer
who I am quite sure was already expecting my call.
When I got to Zuccotti around 5:30
there were already thousands of people crowding the park. Broadway
was partially blocked by steel barricades and maybe a hundred NYPD
officers, a sight which sort of blew my mind. Not so much seeing all
of them there but the fact that they were blocking one of the main
arteries of the Financial District just before rush hour. Not only
that but it was perfectly timed to be broadcast live on all the
morning news shows and I began thinking somebody really hadn't
thought the whole thing through. That may have been the scariest
thought of the day. Ringing the park were cameras from networks all
over the country and the world. I could easily pick out ABC 7, NBC 4,
CNN, Univision, AP, German ARD, and the BBC.
I found a nice clean and comfy trash
can to sit on than settled in to drink my coffee and see what dawn
bought. My trash can was in a good spot just outside the park with an
open street behind it so I figured I had a nice exit route should I
need one. Just after 6:00 my escape plan went to hell when about a
dozen officers arrived on scooters I could only think they borrowed
from meter maids. I have to admit that made me more than a little
nervous so I quickly double checked that lawyer's number. Not long
after the scooter cops arrived a rumor began to spread through the
crowd that the whole operation had been postponed if not canceled and
it was officially announced at around 6:45. It was a slightly
emotional moment because the crowd began chanting “we won, we won”
over and over and I know I saw some of the younger cops smiling. By
now I had my phone out and was back in contact with the rest of my
world.
At this point hundreds of protesters
poured out of the park and headed north on Broadway in an impromptu
celebratory march on City Hall. I hoped off my perch and followed
part of the way but turned back when I started to see riot police,
horses, and those damn orange nets the police used to gather up
marchers on the Brooklyn Bridge. During this march protesters clashed
with riot police outside City Hall and this is where most of the days
arrests took place. I wandered back through Zuccotti taking photos
and talking a little including to a guy who had just been arrested in
the big Occupy Boston arrest, got out, and than traveled to New York
fully expecting to be arrested yet again. One of the most discussed
topics is also one of the least reported facts of the day. Diana
Taylor, Mayor Bloomberg's live in girlfriend, just happens to be on
the board of directors of Brookfield Office Properites, the owners of
Zuccotti Park.
Personally I don't think the cleaning
operation could have been planned without the approval of Mayor
Bloomberg himself and so the decision not too do it must have been
his as well. Probably laying it on Brookfield Properties was an easy
way for him to wash his hands of the whole affair should it have gone
bad. I have to agree with what a Village Voice writer said in a
column later in the day. If the decision not to clean the park had
been made the night before why the hell didn't they announce it than.
Announce it before thousands of people, some of them very heavily
armed, stood in the early morning light of Zuccotti Park just waiting
for something to happen.
What I do know is that the word
postponed was burned into the minds of everyone there this morning.
Not cancelled, just postponed.
