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Formerly crowded Zucotti Park was cleared of Occupy Wall Street protesters early Tuesday morning, November 15, 2011 by The NYPD under the order of Mayor Bloomberg. According to The New York Times Mr. Bloomberg declared that, “health and safety conditions became intolerable” continuing to say, “New York City is the city where you can come and express yourself. What was happening in Zucotti Park was not that.” Under the parks regulations Zucotti Park is to be open for the public to enjoy recreationally 24 hours a day, however since the protest began the park has remained unavailable to anyone else. Mayor Bloomberg has acknowledged the First Amendment rights of protesters, but when it contrasts with the public health and safety of citizens he felt problems developed.
Now citizens have taken their voice to social media outlets such as Twitter making “Zucotti Park” one of New York’s trending topics. Both sides have strong opinions (as you can imagine) either in support of the Zucotti clearing or against and are “occupying” Twitter to take a further stance. Here are some of yesterday’s top tweets on either side of the issue:
Activism has proven to be an important staple throughout United States History. After all, where would our country be without it? Historically, past generations have made significant changes within our country by standing up for their beliefs. Perhaps this is our generations chance for a voice to be heard.
It seems that many people identify with the OWS cause (to some degree) but tend to disagree on the execution of the protest. For example, The New York Post displayed an article yesterday where a protester was displaying her naked body in order to “display her grievances.”
Currently some new issues on the park clearing have surfaced. If you have been following some of the live feeds regarding what is happening in Zucotti Park many are noticing a media black-out from about 1 a.m. on Tuesday till about 4:30 a.m. conducted by the city government. Many reporters including two from NPR, and New York Daily News were arrested for trying to gain access to coverage. Enraged by these arrests many media personals have also taken to social media to express their opinion about this black-out. Why the black-out? Mayor Bloomberg stated that these actions were done to “protect the press” but perhaps there is an underlying issue here.
Do you agree with protestors methods? Their message? Where do you stand?
Follow The New York Times live feed here- http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/updates-on-the-clearing-of-zuccotti-park/