In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the New York Police Department finally began to restore the rule of law by “evicting” the Neo-Communist vagrants and squatters occupying lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park for the last nearly two months. This comes after similar ousters occurred across the country.
Although the squatting trespassers didn’t go quietly as dozens ended up occupying handcuffs and the occupiers even stormed nearby Trinity Church before being repelled.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman ruled that New York can stop protesters from bringing camping equipment into Zuccotti Park.
According to the NY Daily News:
The anti-camping rule appears “reasonable” to maintain safety and hygiene at the epicenter of the nationwide movement, Stallman wrote.
The protesters “have not demonstrated that they have a First Amendment right to remain in Zuccotti Park, along with their tents, structures, generators and other installations,” he wrote.
Although protesters, who were represented by TWU attorney, Arthur Schwartz, lost their ability to continue camping, they were, according to the New York Times, allowed back into their former encampment.
Staying true to his usual rant-filled rhetorical form, in a press release, AFL-CIO boss, Richard Trumka blamed politicians “acting on behalf of the 1%” before reminding readers to participate in the the #OWS-AFL-CIO’s ‘Tax & Spend Day of Action‘ on Thursday. Then, just to ensure he maintained his creds with his #OccupyProgeny, Trumka ended his release reiterating the “we are the 99%” slogan.
[Actually, unions only represent 11.9% of the American workforce, but accuracy and truth has long ago been abandoned among the union elite.]
Here is AFL-CIO Boss Trumka’s press release:
Dear ,
They can take away the tarps and the tents. But they can’t slow down the Occupy Wall Street movement.
There have been police raids on Occupy Wall Street in Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Denver; Albany, N.Y.; Burlington, Vt.; and Chapel Hill, N.C.—and now, last night in New York’s Zuccotti Park—orchestrated by politicians acting on behalf of the 1%.
But the 99% is undaunted. Occupy Wall Street’s message already has created a new day. This movement has created a seismic shift in our national debate—from austerity and cuts to jobs, inequality and our broken economic system….
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been committed to peaceful, nonviolent action from its inception. And it will keep spreading no matter what elected officials tell police to do. But that doesn’t mean these raids are acceptable. In fact, they are inexcusable.
As former Secretary of State Colin Powell put it, these protests are “as American as apple pie.” Americans must be allowed to speak out against pervasive inequality, even if the truth discomfits the 1%.
The AFL-CIO will do everything in our power to make sure the free speech rights of these peaceful protesters are protected.
Click here to find a Nov. 17 bridge action near you.
And click here to send a message of solidarity directly to the Occupy Wall Street protesters—Working America will deliver it this week.
We are the 99%.
In Solidarity,
Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO[Emphasis added]
A little further uptown, George Grisham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, emailed his union members in outrage:
Sisters and Brothers,
As you know by now, the 1 % struck back in the middle of the night. Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered a military-style assault—using pepper spray, tear gas, attack shields, and batons–on the peaceful protesters of Occupy Wall Street in Zucotti Park. Hundreds of people were arrested, some were beaten or otherwise attacked, including one member of the New York City Council.
When lawyers representing OWS secured a court injunction ordering that Zucotti Park again be opened to OWS, the mayor ignored the court. The situation is very fluid. But one thing is certain: We cannot allow this to pass. [Emphasis added.]
Like his cohort at the AFL-CIO, Gresham called on supporters to attend the November 17th Tax & Spend Day of Action.
Now, following Thursday’s Day of Action, the #OccupyWallSt movement will be all but finished until next Spring. As a result, union bosses and their new-found friends in Guy Fawkes masks, can go to work planning their next occupation.
Eventually, though, after all they’ve invested in taking over the #OWS movement, unions will likely start asking for union dues. After all, other than protests and buying politicians, what else are today’s unions good for?
______________
“Socialism has no place in the hearts of those who would secure the fight for freedom and preserve democracy.” Samuel Gompers, 1918
