Police Occupy Zuccotti Park

By LAURA CHANG

The Observer visited Zuccotti Park, the home base of Occupy Wall Street, on Nov. 15 where policemen, instead of protestors, occupied the space.

After police removed all protestors from the area earlier that day, protestors received a temporary court order that allowed them to re-enter the space. However, police stood inside the park and surrounded the area, not allowing any protesters to enter the space.

Julie Goldsmith, a local protestor, said “[The police] kind of look like they are in prison, that’s how it should be isn’t it?” Goldsmith, who works for Occupy Wall Street Screen Printers Guild, said, “We make T-shirts, banners, posters and we’ve been here since the beginning.”

At approximately 1 a.m. on Nov. 15, protestors who have camped at Zuccotti Park for months were removed by police officers. According to The New York Times, the police evicted not only the protestors, but also their tents, tarps and belongings.

The article also said that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg believed the evacuation was necessary because “health and safety conditions became intolerable” in the park.

Since the police evacuated the park, the food and library tents have also disappeared. Goldsmith said, “It was all loaded into a sanitation truck and brought to a location near 57th and the West Side highway.”

She said that the police and the protestors have shared a mutual respect so far. “I don’t think they want to be doing this, I really don’t. But now it’s really hard not to look at this and not get extremely angry,” she said.

One Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) student visits to Zuccotti Park weekly to document Occupy Wall Street. Jacqueline Krakowski, FCLC ’13, said that it was a way to keep her family, friends and people who are out of the state or country up-to-date with what is going on.

Krakowski said that she hopes more students get involved with the movement because this is “just the beginning.” She said, “I think a lot of people [at FCLC] aren’t involved and that’s sad especially because things like this really do affect us and we’re students; we’re the young generation. We should be out there doing something about everything that’s going on.”

In addition, she said the police should “at least be respectful to people’s possessions” and “give them warning.”