Occupy Wall Street Cleanup: Russell Simmons Offers To Pay To Avoid Violence

[Dave]

And things just continue to get dumber and dumber. Apparently the protesters are forgetting a few things. For one, the park they been trashing isn't theirs... its not even public property, its privately owned. Another thing is the only people wanting a confrontation and expecting violence are the protesters. The police are simply doing their job.. if they get attacked, they will do what they have to do to quell the violence... if that means arresting, tasering a bunch of people, that's what they will do. Simmons comments that "they" want to start a war out of a non violent movement... only people starting a war our the protesters. Maybe if the protesters were respectful enough of other people, like the owners of the land they are on and actually clean up after themselves, they might not of been asked to move to begin with.

 

Following an evening of mopping, sweeping and trash collecting, the Occupy Wall Street protesters at Zuccotti Park readied themselves for a Friday morning confrontation with NYPD, preempting city efforts to clean the park and promising to defend their camp against what they suspect is a ploy to ouster them permanently.

Russell Simmons, hip hop mogul and early supporter of the movement, hopes to make any such confrontation unnecessary.

Taking to Twitter late Thursday, Simmons appealed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who first announced that the protesters would be asked to leave the park while it is cleaned, saying that he'd personally bankroll sanitation efforts.

"Dear @MikeBloomberg -- I will pay for clean-up of Zuccotti Park to avoid confrontation. I don't wanna go to jail but I will be there ready!" he tweeted, which followed a series of messages that started with a dire prediction.

"Damn looks like they are gonna start a war out of this non violent movement. This could set off lots of chaos," he first wrote, adding, "The law says the young people can stay. I love the mayor, my advice dont allow this to get violent."

Simmons, who was at the park Thursday, then appealed to those that support the Occupy Wall Street protests, inviting them down for an early protest.

"Meet me at Zuccotti Park tmw at 7AM. There is NO way the brave, patriotic yng ppl are being kicked out. http://bit.ly/oPxWkO #OWS"

Simmons isn't the only prominent name intent on helping out the arm-in-arm human chain the protesters plan on creating. A number of the nation's top labor unions, who have already pitched in at the site, have called on their members to join early Friday morning. NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly has said that protesters will be allowed to return to the privately held property, but would not be allowed to camp there any longer.

Simmons said that would result in arrests.

"Clean up is fine, if u clean section a and don't allow the sleeping bags and set up back to section a ur gonna take us all to jail," he wrote.

Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo also visited Zuccotti Park Thursday night and has long been an outspoken supporter and frequent visitor to the protests; Tim Robbins and a whole host of other stars have also joined in.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/occupy-wall-street-cleanup...

[Willy]

They should never have been allowed to stay in the first place. The only way they will leave is when it snows.

[Lisa O'Brien]

I disagree - it is our right as American citizens "Freedom of Assembly". We don't have to agree on the protesters philosophy but we shouldn't take away their rights.

[Willy]

I thinkd you are confusing illegal occupation of property with "Freedom of Assembly". New York City law prohibits sleeping on the streets or in parks. They were allowed to stay because the Mayor feared an uprising. The protesters were never denied the right to assemble.

[Lisa O'Brien]

If they start arresting the protesters, they will have to go around and arrest every homeless person in the city for sleeping in the streets or parks. I don't think they have enough cells.

[Willy]

Lisa

They don't arrest the homeless. They take them to shelters. These protesters are not homeless and would, as expected and deserved, be forcibly removed or put in jail.

[Dave]

They have the right to assemble and to protest but you don't have the right to take over private property and call it your own... that's a key point I believe. The owners of the park I think have been very gracious to have let the protesters stay as long as they have. At some point though they do need to go... either to meet at another location or to go home or whatever. The conditions at the park have been deplorable by most accounts with some people basically using it as a toilet and a bed.

[Lisa O'Brien]

It may be a private park - but NYC has laws on the books that state it must be treated as a public park, SO if the police are going to enforce the no sleeping on streets or in parks they would have to enforce it unilaterally and not pick and chose what group it applies to. Personally I can't believe they would sleep out there with the rats and other vermin running around. I have heard conflicting reports on how messy and or smelly the actual area is (I have no desire to go down there).

[Dave]

As far as the sleeping in public areas goes... first thing that should be figured out is how the NYPD has been enforcing those laws on the citizens of the city... do they not enforce them? If they do, how strict are they? If they are enforcing those laws as best they can (I don't imagine that they could ever get everyone off the streets all the time), then the protesters would be quite lucky to have not been moved out already.

Anyhow, on a lighter note.. was just watching a report on Fox regarding the protesters, while the reporter was talking, in the back ground, one of the female protesters walked by.... naked.... oooops.... lol

[Lisa O'Brien]

Generally it's not enforced unless someone complains - there are a lot of homeless in NYC.

[Dave]

As far as the laws go... are there laws regarding how long someone or a group of people can use a park? I would imagine that there would be some law regarding this and I'd probably bet that it says nothing about occupying a public or private owned park for weeks on end.

Anyway, it would seem some people are starting to complain and there might not be anything that the the city can do but evict the protesters from residing there. As I understood it, the protesters were welcome to return to the park once it was cleaned... of course the cleaning has been delayed for the time being.