Brookfield properties has issued a statement which suggests that their lawyers did not read the order from the Supreme Court of NY state, issued early this morning. That order, available here, said explicitly that the park must be reopened to protesters and that the police could not prevent people from assembling there. In a bizarre twist, Brookfield has responded thusly:
“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.
Read his full statement here.
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Lawyers affiliated with the Liberty Park Legal working group at Occupy Wall Street filed an emergency injunction against the City, asking a judge to prevent the police from evicting protesters at Liberty Park. Of course, the eviction had already taken place, but this injunction prevents another eviction, and also prevents police from keeping people out of the park.
The ACLU of New Jersey joined with occupy protesters to sue the state police for the return of personal belongings confiscated by the police during raids on the occupy encampment in Trenton. The judge agreed. NBC reports:
The BBC reports that London metropolitan police are warning demonstrators planning a student fees protest that they have rubber coated steel bullets waiting for them. The police issued a statement saying that the guns would be "carried by a small number of trained officers". Let's hope the training in London differs from that given the Oakland Police Department. Last week, an OPD officer shot a citizen journalist with one of these guns point blank, while he was filming.
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