NYPD blocks press in failed attempt to prevent pre-dawn raid coverage

by Steve Ragan - Nov 15 2011, 10:01

In what looks to be a miserable failure of an attempt to prevent mass coverage of the pre-dawn raid at Zuccotti Park, in order to evict the Occupy Wall Street protesters, the NYPD is said to have stripped the media of their right to report on the events, blocking access to the area as they violently ejected protesters and tossed personal property in the trash.

On Twitter, at about 01:00 EST, Mayor Bloomberg’s spokespeople told the hundreds of Occupy Wall Street protesters that they should “temporarily leave and remove tents and tarps.” The message promised that they could “return” after the park was cleared. The conditional return requires that they not bring camping gear with them.

The Associated Press has reported that Mayor Bloomberg is under pressure from local business leaders, who with to shutdown the Occupy movement in New York, citing a drop in traffic to their shops and restaurants.

As hundreds of police officers surrounded the park during the pre-dawn raid, there were outbreaks of violence as peaceful protesters were pepper sprayed and hit with batons. WBAI Radio warned protesters to beware, as there were “reports of injurious arrests, police violence and threats, peaceful protesters being sprayed.”

Moreover, New York City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez was injured and arrested shortly after the raid started.

However, if a surprise eviction on the pretense of sanitation and random police violence wasn’t bad enough, the NYPD showed a disturbing lack of judgment when they attempted to shutdown press coverage of the raid, implementing a media blackout by threatening arrest.

It started with a news helicopter being forced to land after the airspace over the park was ordered closed off. Soon after, reports started to come in on Twitter form those on the ground that accredited media, with clearly marked credentials, were being forced to leave the area.

Reporters from the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, NBC, CBS, Reuters, and the New York Observer, were all subjected to the media blackout. According to reports, a handful of journalists were moved far away from the park, but in some cases others were stripped of their media passes and told to leave or be arrested.

As of 03:00 EST, at least two journalists were arrested, and two others from the New York Times left the park in order to avoid arrest. One journalist from NPR was clearly wearing her credentials as police took her away. At last count, 106 people were arrested during the raid.

“Cops at #OWS keep confiscating press passes, then arresting press with and without passes. Illegal and stupid,” said one report posted on Twitter.

Matt Cowgill, commenting from Australia, summed up the mood of many journalists watching the reports on Twitter, in addition to live video from the protesters themselves with, “I don't see how ejecting accredited journalists from a public place is defensible in a democracy.”

As the police cleared the park, personal property including books, clothes, radios and other equipment, were tossed in the trash. The kitchen, which served hundreds of meals, if not more daily, was torn to pieces by police. When the trash truck filled with Occupy property started to leave the area, protesters attempted to block it. They were unsuccessful based on reports.

In addition to blocking the press, people living nearby were also told they could not leave their own homes. NBC-NY’s Melissa Russo reported that residents near Zuccotti Park were not being allowed out of building to watch the proceedings, adding that the NYPD was telling doormen to “lock up.”

“The dumbest thing NYC could do to #Occupy is what they are doing right now. Suppression always has the opposite effect,” commented Keith Olbermann, who was following things online.

“US Democracy has always survived thanks to stupidity of those who'd suppress it,” he later added.

Again, the NYPD’s attempt to block media coverage failed. It was doomed from the start.

At 05:00 EST, CNN was running coverage, using video feeds provided by the protesters, reporters on cell phones, and comments from Twitter. But the real coverage will start later this morning, as Occupy protesters return in force, and Mayor Bloomberg answers hard questions.

With so many protesters carrying with cameras and social media tools, the public was able to learn what was happening overnight, and people remained informed all though the raid. If the NYPD learned anything about the Occupy movement, one would think they would’ve remembered that it is documented and “the world is watching.”

Still, while the effort failed, the very idea that the NYPD would consider stripping a reporter of their media credentials, or threaten them with arrest for doing their jobs is disgusting. There’s just no other word for it. It’s simply disgusting.

At this point, it doesn’t matter if the police lift the local media blackout. It doesn’t matter if they open the airspace above the park. The damage has been done, and the world watched as city officials walked all over the First Amendment.

The comments were released to the media this morning from Mayor Bloomberg's office:

 

“At one o’clock this morning, the New York City Police Department and the owners of Zuccotti Park notified protestors in the park that they had to immediately remove tents, sleeping bags and other belongings, and must follow the park rules if they wished to continue to use it to protest. Many protestors peacefully complied and left. At Brookfield’s request, members of the NYPD and Sanitation Department assisted in removing any remaining tents and sleeping bags. This action was taken at this time of day to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood.
 
“Protestors were asked to temporarily leave the park while this occurred, and have been told that they will be free to return to the park once Brookfield finishes cleaning it later morning. Protestors – and the general public – are welcome there to exercise their First Amendment rights, and otherwise enjoy the park, but will not be allowed to use tents, sleeping bags, or tarps and, going forward, must follow all park rules.
 
“The law that created Zuccotti Park required that it be open for the public to enjoy for passive recreation 24 hours a day. Ever since the occupation began, that law has not been complied with, as the park has been taken over by protestors, making it unavailable to anyone else.
 
“From the beginning, I have said that the City had two principal goals: guaranteeing public health and safety, and guaranteeing the protestors’ First Amendment rights.
 
“But when those two goals clash, the health and safety of the public and our first responders must be the priority.
 
“That is why, several weeks ago the City acted to remove generators and fuel that posed a fire hazard from the park. 
 
“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 protestors and to the surrounding community. 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.
 
“The park had become covered in tents and tarps, making it next to impossible to safely navigate for the public, and for first responders who are responsible for guaranteeing public safety.  The dangers posed were evident last week when an EMT was injured as protestors attempted to prevent him and several police officers from helping a mentally ill man who was menacing others.  As an increasing number of large tents and other structures have been erected, these dangers have increased. It has become increasingly difficult even to monitor activity in the park to protect the protestors and the public, and the proliferation of tents and other obstructions has created an increasing fire hazard that had to be addressed.
 
“Some have argued to allow the protestors to stay in the park indefinitely – others have suggested we just wait for winter and hope the cold weather drove the protestors away – but inaction was not an option. I could not wait for someone in the park to get killed or to injure another first responder before acting. Others have cautioned against action because enforcing our laws might be used by some protestors as a pretext for violence – but we must never be afraid to insist on compliance with our laws.
 
“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. 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. The majority of protestors have been peaceful and responsible. But an unfortunate minority have not been – and as the number of protestors has grown, this has created an intolerable situation.
 
“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.
 
“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.
 
“Let me conclude by thanking the NYPD, FDNY, and the Department of Sanitation for their professionalism earlier this morning. Thank you.”

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