THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Protesters have flooded back into the New York park where police demolished their two-month-old tent camp, vowing to step up the Occupy Wall Street campaign despite a ban on camping out there.
The movement to protest alleged corporate greed and political dysfunction was thrown into crisis during a turbulent 24 hours on Tuesday that began with a surprise early morning police raid on the privately-owned Zuccotti Park.
Protesters then spent the day playing cat-and-mouse with authorities as they sought to re-establish their base near Wall Street, the symbolic epicenter of a movement that has inspired similar protests in other US cities and abroad.
In the evening, police reopened the park and let the protesters back in one-by-one - but only after a New York judge backed a ban on pitching tents, rejecting the demonstrators' legal challenge to the dismantling of the camp.
"No one will be denied entry," a police officer said at the gate, as people began to wander back in. Organisers put the number at 1,200. Once inside, the crowd began to chant: "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street."
Both sides were claiming victory after judge Michael Stallman ruled that the owners of the park and the authorities were not denying protesters their constitutional right to freedom of speech by banning them from camping out.
"Zuccotti Park will remain open to all who want to enjoy it, as long as they abide by the park's rules," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement. » | November 16, 2011
