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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Clearing Zuccotti Park least bad option for Bloomberg and top cop Ray Kelly - But Occupy Wall Street won't go away you know

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Clearing Zuccotti Park least bad option for Bloomberg and top cop Ray Kelly - But Occupy Wall Street won't go away you know

Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 05:39 AM

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Protesters stand-up to cops at OWS

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was damned if he did and damned if he didn't clear Zuccotti Park where the Occupy Wall Street protesters had been gathered for almost two months now.

In the event the city decided to move when the news of a shutdown of Wall Street was due for Thursday this week, disrupting the financial center with a day long carnival.

In addition business owners and communities who lived near the park had reached breaking point with the protesters,claiming lost sales and incessant noise all night long from the camp.
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Even the protesters themselves had reached the point where they were uncertain what to do next. A harsh winter looms and there were increasing tales of robberies and mentally ill mixing with the groups.

There was no easy solution and Kelly and his boss Michael Bloomberg had clearly wrestled with the right course of action for weeks now.

A police captain referred to health and safety hazards when announcing the park would be cleared

Closing down the camp must have seemed like the best of a list of bad options.

But is is by no means clear that is how it will turn out.

The Occupy Wall Street group struck a huge chord, not just across the nation but across the world .

They changed the political dynamic, forcing attention on those who through greed cratered the economy yet got away scot free while the 99 per cent of ordinary folk continue to suffer in the deep recession.

In real terms the occupiers can claim victory for changing the mindset where the Tea Party were seen as the only motivated, activist group on the political landscape.

There is now a solid counterweight to their argument that the only culprit for the financial mess was government mishandling.

This debate will play out all the way through the 2012 elections.

The clearing of Zuccotti Park is just the latest chapter to unfold.

But it will not be the last.

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12 comments

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AengusOg | Nov 16, 2011, 09:22 AM EST

Yawn.

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DennisQ | Nov 16, 2011, 02:12 AM EST

Bloomberg screwed up. He has very little to gain from clearing the park of protesters - they'll only be back. And now he's the billionaire who set the riot police on young people sleeping in their tents at one in the morning.

He probably wanted to do something rather than appear to be dithering. But instead of choosing the best of bad choices, the Mayor chose the worst of bad choices. This was not about health and safety. If you believe that, you should get out of Manhattan before somebody takes advantage of you. It was always about politics. It was so at the beginning, and it continues to be.

It's not a good idea to energize the left just as the Occupy movement was itself running out of options. Where were the Mayor's advisors? They're supposed to tell him when he's about to make a bad mistake; and more's the pity if they did. Raymond Kelly should be reading about this in his easy chair in Miami Beach, not directing it. Doesn't he have the sense to know when to step aside?

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allentown | Nov 15, 2011, 09:55 PM EST

Bloomberg had his tail sticking out with all the other Mayors clearing out the OWS encampments, and he still allowing OWS to camp out in Zuccotti Park. Purely a political decision.

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dave1948 | Nov 15, 2011, 04:46 PM EST

When the general public ( blue collars ) hold political rallies against each other like the Tea party rallies against Obama and the liberals they can show up armed with assault rifles, express their second amendment remedy and all is good, the police are there to direct traffic. I carry a concealed weapon myself so I'm not anti gun. My point is that if a Democrat group challenge's a Republican group or vise versa it's all good but when the middle class challenges the wealthy/power it's beatings, tear gas and rubber bullets. I'm just saying.

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dave1948 | Nov 15, 2011, 04:24 PM EST

These Occupy Wall-Streeters got it all wrong. The problem is the workers that get paid with my tax dollars are making to much money These teachers and police are pushing $40,000 a year that's outrageous. I see the just fired President of Penn State only got $450,000 severance cash and a lousy $28,000 per month for the rest of his life, that my friends is a travesty. I understand Penn State gets $344 million dollars a year in tax payer money but without these VIP's what would we do?

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EphraimKibbey | Nov 15, 2011, 04:14 PM EST

@PiperMac52 - Our government is now bought and paid for by the rich. The 99% no longer are represented by their elected officials. This situation seems similar to the one upon which America was founded. We again face taxation without representation. The taxes of the 99% have been used to shore up the greedy institutions on Wall Street. This is much more than a few people in Zuccotti Park and its ramifications for the American economic/political infrastructure will be monumental. Everyone wants to hitch his wagon to a winning horse and that is why there are so many factions involved. The "Tea Party" complained about the salvation of the greedy by the government but put the blame squarely on the government alone. Their drastic solution was to do away with government. The Occupy movement places the blame on both Wall Street and their hired minions in our government. What is going on in New York, across the nation and around the world is the REAL tea party analogous to the one that we celebrate as the beginning of our Revolution against England. Like that revolution it is populated by many oppressed groups seeking a redress of their greivences. As England learned, ignoring the masses can be catastrophic.

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JimmyJK | Nov 15, 2011, 03:01 PM EST

Occupy wall street is inspiring.... they are trying to point out evil in our midst... this greed that wall street, corporations and the financial industry has levied on us with the help of our government is appalling and sad. When do we speak up? When do we say what we feel? When do we tell family, friends and politicians that enough is enough with awful greed.... does ambition only end with money and power? I don't believe so...

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PiperMac52 | Nov 15, 2011, 11:14 AM EST

The "occupy" movement lost what ever credibility it had when it allowed a menagerie of radicals, left-wing zealots as well as clueless young college kids who when interviewed can't articulate what they are demonstrating against. There have been rapes(in Phila.,Pa.), shootings, beatings...and this is not at the hands of the police but demonstrator on demonstrator. Parks and private property, businesses are being vandalized and trashed with debris...not a good representation of the "cause".

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seagreen | Nov 15, 2011, 10:07 AM EST

The rest of the world is seeing unarmed demonstrators confronted by machine guns, chemmical weapons, electrocution devices,clubs and whatever else by police representing all that is good ??? A $5,000,000 donation to the NYPD by Wall St. could be a partial impetus to motivate the Mayor to act to remove all of the infectous vibes and voices in Zuccoti Park (which is now owned by a corporation) Can't have all of those ####bum's on Wall St looking out their windows and being reminded of the prosperous well off vermin that they really are !

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IronMountainMovies | Nov 15, 2011, 09:24 AM EST

America! Land of free speech....as long as you don't get too loud! Bloomberg and Kelly had other options, including calling for investigations into the corrupt Wall St people who broke the economy, but then again Bloomberg is Wall St and Kelly relies on Bloomberg for his pay cheque. What's that you say about American democracy? Mmmmm.

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TheOldPerfessor | Nov 15, 2011, 09:17 AM EST

Bloomberg has accomplished what Mubarek and Qaddaffi could not. No doubt his pals in the country club are very happy with him, but I hope he's not thinking of a fourth term.

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hollabackgurl | Nov 15, 2011, 09:00 AM EST

Good article. Occupy Wall Street first blames Wall Street and its corrupt lending and trading practices of the financial sector for the recession, not the US government. The Bush administration allowed Wall Street free reign and handed them record breaking tax cuts, but it was Wall Street's own unfettered greed that almost destroyed the American economy and created the recession.

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