Judge grants restraining order prohibiting thecity from removing OWS

Judge grants restraining order prohibiting the city from removing OWS 1. Shimon Prokupecz and Jonathan Dienst Tuesday, Nov 15, 2011 Updated 4:53 PM EST Return to Park With Tents, Judge Rules).

Hundreds of police officers, some in riot gear, descended on Zuccotti Park overnight in a surprise sweep of the Occupy Wall Street headquarters that Mayor Bloomberg said had become an "intolerable situation."

Hours later, a judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the city from enforcing rules of the plaza that she said were published "after the occupation began," like a ban on tents and tarps.

Bloomberg said at a City Hall briefing that the city had planned to let people back into the park at 8 a.m. but decided to keep it closed while officials evaluated the order.

See the order here. Both sides made arguments at an 11:30 a.m. hearing, and a judge said he hoped to have a decision by 3 p.m. There was still no decision as of 4:20 p.m.

In court papers, the city argued that letting the park go back to the way it was would create "unsafe and unsanitary conditions" and "substantial threat to public safety."

Officials presented photos taken before the raid that they said showed fire hazards like wooden pallets, clothing and other combustible materials among extension cords, electrical wires and crowds of smokers. They also said that makeshift weapons like "cardboard tubes with metal pipes inside" had been observed among protesters' possessions, causing growing alarm among police.

There was also no clear egress if a fire were to break out, the city said.

About an hour before the hearing, hundreds of protesters marched back to the park demanding to be let back in. Some were waving the court order.

"Just because we got kicked out doesn't mean we are going to back down," said Daniela Lara, a protester.

In the overnight raid, many protesters in the two-month-old occupation left peacefully, but some refused to go, chaining themselves to trees and to each other. They chanted at police, "Whose park? Our park!"

All protesters were cleared from the park by 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Police said more than 200 were arrested, some inside the park overnight and others on Broadway as protesters tried to stop the evacuation. Among those arrested was City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.

Bloomberg said at City Hall Tuesday that he and the owners of the plaza, Brookfield Properties, had become "increasingly concerned" that the occupation, which has used generators and other devices to keep warm, was beginning to pose a health and fire hazard to the demonstrators and Lower Manhattan community. There have been reports of scattered crime, and an EMT was injured responding to a call last week, he noted.

"Unfortunately, the park was becoming a place where people came not to protest, but rather to break laws, and in some cases, to harm others," Bloomberg said. "The majority of protesters have been peaceful and responsible. But an unfortunate minority has not been – and as the number of protesters has grown, this has created an intolerable situation."

He said protesters will be welcome to use the park to protest but have to follow the rules.

"Protesters have had two months to occupy the park with tents and sleeping bags," he added. "Now they will have to occupy the

space with the power of their arguments."

The temporary restraining order said the city could not evict protesters from the park or enforce rules -- like those prohibiting certain items in the plaza -that were not made clear until after the occupation began.

Before moving in to sweep the park, police handed out letters to protesters ordering them to temporarily evacuate; campers were ordered to remove all their tents.

Any tents, sleeping bags or other items left behind in the park would be brought to a sanitation garage, the letter said.

The mayor's office tweeted in the 1 a.m. hour, "Occupants of Zuccotti should temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps. Protesters can return after the Park is cleared."

See NBC New York's Storify timeline of #OWS tweets here Even as some protesters physically locked themselves down in the park, police moved in, working around the remaining demonstrators to break down tents and toss them into piles.

Sanitation crews then entered and moved the items on to the sidewalk.

A recorded announcement played on loop, telling protesters they had to temporarily vacate the park.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was on the scene monitoring developments.

Outside the park, several separate smaller groups formed to march down Broadway to try to join protesters in the park. But officers blocked the path, resulting in some pushing and shoving.

There were many reports of journalists being pushed back by police as well.

Residents in at least one nearby building were not allowed to leave to watch the events.

Doormen were told by NYPD to lock up.

Bloomberg last month tried to evacuate the park so that it could be cleaned. But the cleanup was ultimately postponed when protesters resisted, raising concerns about a showdown between police and the thousand-plus demonstrators camped out at the park.

The mandatory evacuation Tuesday came just two days before a massive Occupy Wall Street demonstration planned for Thursday. Demonstrators were planning to march in front of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning, get on subway trains across all five boroughs in the afternoon, then rally near City Hall in the evening. Afterward, they were expected to march to area bridges.

Bloomberg has recently gone back and forth between criticizing Occupy Wall Street and defending it, saying recently that protesters were largely law-abiding and did not bother anyone.

When he was asked Monday to address complaints of local business owners and residents about the Occupy encampment, Bloomberg again hedged on whether he planned to step in.

"We'll take appropriate action when it's appropriate," he said.

Occupy encampments have come under fire around the country as local officials and residents have complained about possible health hazards and ongoing inhabitation of parks and other public spaces.

Bloomberg On Occupy Wall Street Eviction: ‘The Final Decision To Act Was Mine’ Following the 1. forced evacuation of Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park early Tuesday morning, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained the decision to temporarily evict protesters was his and his alone.

"I have become increasingly concerned - as had the park's owner, Brookfield Properties - that the occupation was coming to pose a health and fire safety hazard to the protesters and to the surrounding community," Bloomberg said in a statement. "We have been in constant contact with Brookfield and yesterday they requested that the City assist it in enforcing the no sleeping and camping rules in the park. But make no mistake - the final decision to act was mine."

Bloomberg said the protesters' tents and tarps made the park difficult for the public to navigate and nearly impossible for firstresponders to guarantee public safety, adding that the "proliferation of tents and other obstructions has created an increasing fire hazard that had to be addressed." On October 28th, the FDNY and NYPD removed the park's generators used to power the protest, saying that it was unsafe to have containers of fuel, gas and diesel.

Bloomberg also cited an incident last week in which an EMT was injured after clashing with a protester at the park and said that although most protesters have been "peaceful and responsible" during the nearly two-month occupation, "an unfortunate minority" have used the space as a place to break laws.

"There have been reports of businesses being threatened and complaints about noise and unsanitary conditions that have seriously impacted the quality of life for residents and businesses in this now-thriving neighborhood," Bloomberg said, adding that accusations that have cropped up have been hard to prove since police are often unable to monitor the situation inside the park.

And although Bloomberg was resolute in his decision to evict the protesters, he tried to make it clear that he's done everything to protect the protesters' First Amendment rights.

"No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities. The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out - but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others - nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law.

There is no ambiguity in the law here - the First

Amendment protects speech - it does not protect the use of tents and sleeping bags to take over a public space," Bloomberg said. "Protestors have had two months to occupy the park with tents and sleeping bags. Now they will have to occupy the space with the power of their arguments."

Bloomberg said protesters were told they could return to the park, but that the new Brookfield Properties law says they cannot have tents and tarps.

The New York Daily News reports, however, that the National Lawyers Guild filed a restraining order against the city on behalf of Occupy Wall Street Tuesday morning and a judge has issued a court order saying the city cannot prevent "protesters from re-entering the park with tents."

Currently the NYPD has Zuccotti Park blocked off to the public.

Bloomberg: Park Occupiers Must Follow Rules VIDEO BELOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq67ZXgmNqU Police Use LRADS On OWS: Luke Rudkowski Explains What Went Down During OWS Eviction 1. YouTube November 15, 2011 LRAD, beatings, protesters putting chains around their necks to prevent eviction, Luke Rudkowski from wearechange explains exactly what happened as the police moved in to destroy the Occupy Wall Street camp.

LRAD on scene, pic1, pic2. VIDEO BELOW Luke Rudkowski explains what went down during Occupy Wall Street eviction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03-2l1s7nis EndGame Blue Print to Global Enslavement VIDEO’S BELOW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-CrNlilZho&ob=av3e America: Freedom to Fascism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUpZhhbKUBo Fall of the Republic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU