New York – It’s not over yet. In fact, it may be just beginning. New York City leaders are warning that thousands of protesters could converge on Manhattan on Thursday. The NYPD is now getting ready for the next stage of “Occupy Wall Street” protests.
It may have looked peaceful at Zuccotti Park during what was a soggy Wednesday afternoon, but city officials are sounding alarm about Thursday, warning of mass disruptions in all five boroughs.
And it may not be pretty.
“We are certainly anticipating tens of thousands of people protesting, aimed at significant disruptions of the lives of the people of this city,” Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson said.
It was an unusual impromptu press conference called by City Hall to share intelligence about an international “day of action” by Occupy Wall Street on the movement’s two-month anniversary. Deputy Mayors Cass Holloway and Wolfson said they expect it to be big, but they said the NYPD is ready.
“Make no mistake, public safety is first and foremost, and we have to ensure that the city can run. People need to drive down the streets and use essential services,” Holloway said.
“Any time you have a situation in which you are anticipating tens of thousands of people protesting on a massive scale, you take it seriously and our forces will be deployed accordingly,” Wolfson added.
Already angry over their eviction from Zuccotti Park, the protesters are planning breakfast, lunch, and dinner protests on Thursday:
The breakfast plan is to “shut down” Wall Street. It’s all expected to start with a rally in Liberty Square starting at 7 a.m. to “put an end to Wall Street’s reign of terror.”
The lunch menu will feature protesters looking to “occupy” the subways in all five boroughs. They plan on gathering at 16 subways stations to take their message to the trains.
And dinner is set up as a takeover of Foley Square, followed by a march to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Bill Dobbs is one of the organizers.
“Tomorrow is going to be a day of action around the city,” Dobbs said. “I’m looking forward to going after wall street and also galvanizing public support and awareness of what we’re about.”
The organizers and those at Zuccotti Park on Wednesday offered few details of what they’re going to do, but when Kramer asked Dobbs how many he was expecting, he was only partially coy.
“I think there will be good-sized numbers tomorrow,” he said. “I think the message is really about who gets what in this country. We are the 99 percent. Who gets the safety net? And who gets thrown under the bus?”
To be sure, there is lingering resentment about Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s decision to evict Occupy Wall Street, but it’s unclear if that anger will be on display Thursday.
“Awful, unconscionable, the mayor and police commissioner do that for a long while. Like other people in power, they think if they get rid of the protesters, they will also get rid of the cause,” Dobbs said.
City officials have refused to say how close they will let the protesters get to their main targets, but they insisted they’re ready for anything.
The OWS website says similar days of action are also planned at Occupy sites around the country and around the world.
After Tuesday’s raid of Zuccotti Park that cleared it of tents, sleeping bags and tarps, protesters marched to Foley and Duarte Square where they distributed a poster about Thursday’s day of action.
City leaders who were against the raid at Zuccotti are also set to participate.
While the official movement is planning its day of action, other individuals seem to be making plans of their own.
In a video posted on YouTube after protesters were evicted from Zuccotti Park, a demonstrator in the crowd says “On the 17th, we’re going to burn New York City to the ground.”
Later in the video, he then goes on to say “No more talking. They’ve got guns, we’ve got bottles. They’ve got bricks, we’ve got rocks…in a few days you’re going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s.”
The official movement is calling for only non-violent action during its marches and rallies on Thursday.
{CBS, AP/Matzav.com Newscenter}
Is anyone worried about these guys? They are antisemtic and blame wealthy Wall Street Jews for being greedy.
Whenever there is ‘class warfare’ the Jews are always the ones to be blamed.
A bunch of wild goons looking for violance
Eventually these people get hungry and go home (may take days, weeks, or months) but you can’t protest the whole day and still make a living!
Its not so funny. I got harassed on the subway this morning by an OWS person. He wanted my money because I am jewish and therefore a part of the one percent. It was kind of scary that this mentality is out there. Be careful today.