It's Official White House and DHS Behind #OWS Thug Crackdowns Nationwide

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Update (2:33 p.m. EST): NBC New York reports that the city has closed a garage where it was storing things police seized at Zuccotti Park Tuesday morning. Sanitation Department workers said broken glass amid the piles of belongings posed a safety hazard.

Update (2:24 p.m. EST): Ydanis Rodriguez, the New York City Council member arrested early Tuesday morning as part of the sweep of Zuccotti Park, is still in custody.* At a press conference to discuss his arrest, his council colleague Tish James said his legal team still hadn't been able to see him, tweets New York Times reporter Kate Taylor. Taylor also tweeted: "Ppl at @ydanis presser using human mic to report on proceedings in courtroom; report that "it looks positive," triggers twinkle fingers."

*Correction: This update initially said Rodriguez had been released from custody. He has not.

Update (2:03 p.m. EST): Primary document fans can take a look at the city's filing in response to the injunction against it courtesy of The New York Times posting on Document Cloud. In short, deputy mayor Cas Holloway argues in the document that the protest encampment represented a safety threat, and that protesters detracted from the neighborhood's quality of life.

Update (1:57 p.m. EST): On Twitter, the buzz from many sources is that a verdict in the injunction hearing is expected to come down by 3 p.m. Meanwhile, at Zuccotti Park, protesters mill around, drumming and cracking wise about the cops and private security (those in the green vests, someone told our live feed cameraman) who continue to guard the empty park:

Update (1:39 p.m. EST): The legal wrangling continues at Manhattan Supreme Court. City Hall News has some good updates on the arguments via its Twitter stream:

Update (1:29 p.m. EST): For a bit of background on Tuesday morning's legal wrangling, The Daily News's Celeste Katz posted both the letter from Brookfield requesting the eviction, and the temporary court order telling the city to allow protesters back into Zuccotti park.

Update (1:20 p.m.EST): Lawyers for the city are making their case before Judge Stallman, arguing that protesters in Zuccotti Park pose a safety threat. The New York Times tweets: "City tells court, "Protesters may have had significant number of items that could potentially be used as weapons." Incl. mace, knives. But lawyers for the occupation say "this isn't a camping case, like Brookfield is arguing, but a free speech case," according to City Hall News's Twitter. Furthermore, "OWS lawyer argues Brookfield created no camping rules in response to occupation. Determined response to free speech activity." Meanwhile, the live feed at UStream reports that a march from Duarte is starting to arrive at Zuccotti with as many as 500 people.

Update (12:38 p.m. EST): Judge Michael Stallman has been assigned to the hearing on a court order to allow protesters back into Zuccotti Park, tweets The New York Times. You can read his official profile here, for starters. Meanwhile, the actual location of the hearing seems to be causing a problem for those trying to attend. Tweets writer Nancy Scola:

Update (12:31 p.m.EST): Protesters who remained at Duarte have decided to march back to Zuccotti in anticipation of a court order they hope will allow them back in. A judge is expected to rule at any minute on whether the city had cause to evict the Zuccotti encampment.

Update (12:20 p.m. EST): Police have cleared Duarte Square entirely, Student Activism reports, sharing this photo:



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Bloomberg Unleashes Riot Police on Occupy Wall Street Zuccotti Park | Police Defy Court Order

    

NYC, NYC (Nov 15) – Mayor Bloomberg unleashed the NYC PD on peaceful protesters encamped at Zuccotti Park around 1 am local time today setting off a chain reaction of protests throughout the area. The news media was blacked out inclusive of an order to clear the airspace above the park by the mayor’s office.

Accordingly, a group of OWS NYC occupants at the camp peacefully resisted until the end eventually forcibly arrested and removed from the private park by police in full riot gear, some protesters left the area prior to the raid.

At least one local official was seriously injured and arrested during the initial wave of arrests that have top 200 so far.
Bloomberg had agreed to allow the protesters back into the park following cleanup operations at the park however, the NYCPD have the park ringed and barricaded from the crowds.

Meanwhile, the National Lawyers Guild had obtained a restraining order against the city from preventing OWS protesters to return, and camp at that location. The court has issued an 11:30am hearing for Bloomberg to appear in court to show probable cause for the actions.

Riot clad police destroyed thousands of dollars of personal property smashing camera equipment, laptops, tents, and what the OWS protesters describe as, their media tent.

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