A defiant Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the Occupy Wall Street protestors that he evicted in a press conference early this morning that no right is absolute, and that he was putting the safety of first responders ahead of their First Amendment rights. Police in riot gear just past 1:00 AM this morning closed access to the park, raided, and evicted protestors, injured and arrested protestors, reporters, and members of the City Council, and denied the media their First Amendment rights to report on the military-like action.
“Protestors have had two months to occupy the park with tents and sleeping bags. Now they will have to occupy the space with the power of their arguments,” Bloomberg told reporters at an 8:00 AM press conference.
“No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities. The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out – but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others – nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law. There is no ambiguity in the law here – the First Amendment protects speech – it does not protect the use of tents and sleeping bags to take over a public space.”
“From the beginning, I have said that the City had two principal goals: guaranteeing public health and safety, and guaranteeing the protestors’ First Amendment rights.”
“But when those two goals clash, the health and safety of the public and our first responders must be the priority.”
“I have become increasingly concerned – as had the park’s owner, Brookfield Properties – that the occupation was coming to pose a health and fire safety hazard to the protestors and to the surrounding community. We have been in constant contact with Brookfield and yesterday they requested that the City assist it in enforcing the no sleeping and camping rules in the park. But make no mistake – the final decision to act was mine.”
A defiant Bloomberg himself is reportedly playing games with a court order that demanded the park be re-opened. The mayor’s office claims they were never served with the court order.
Bill de Blasio, the Public Advocate of New York City assailed the Mayor’s overnight actions.
“Protecting public safety and quality of life for downtown residents, and guaranteeing free expression are not exclusive of one another. Mayor Bloomberg made a needlessly provocative and legally questionable decision to clear Zuccotti Park in the dead of night. That some media and observers were prevented from monitoring the action is deeply troubling.
“I know of no one—protesters included—who desires a permanent occupation of lower Manhattan. But provocations under cover of darkness only escalate tensions in a situation that calls for mediation and dialogue. I call on the Mayor to find a sustainable resolution—as other cities have done—that allows for the exercise of free speech and assembly, with respect for the rights of all New Yorkers to peaceful enjoyment of our great city.â€
Ben Smith at Politico notes that “Bloomberg was already struggling through a snakebit third term. The cornerstone of his success has been  the popularity of the NYPD and its commissioner, Ray Kelly, whom over whom the mayor has had limited control. But a series of police scandals, notably a recent set of ticket-fixing arrests in which police officers demonstrated in favor of a corrupt practice, have badly tarnished the department’s image and raised questions about Kelly’s tenure.
“Now, an unpopular mayor and a tarnished police force are up against a protest movement that has been, in polling, popular among the residents of a liberal city. His police even reportedly roughed up a Post reporter. The coverage is guaranteed to be brutal.”
(Image by Nick Gulotta)