Occupy Wall Street Eviction Highlights Manhattan’s Public Spaces
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New York City police were acting appropriately when they cleared protesters out of Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park early this morning, according to Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola.
Police swept into the privately owned public park in lower Manhattan at 1 a.m. and told protesters to remove items such as tents and sleeping bags while the park was closed for cleaning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference today. The First Amendment protects speech, the mayor said, not “the use of tents and sleeping bags to take over a public space.”