NEW YORK—Zuccotti Park was cleared out on Tuesday after an early morning wake-up call by riot police. At 1 a.m. police started moving campers and equipment from the birthplace of the international Occupy Wall Street movement.
Clashes ensued and more than 70 people were arrested, but reports varied and police did not confirm the number.
By Tuesday afternoon, the park appeared completely clean with approximately 50 police officers and 40 plain-clothes personnel guarding the barricades. Protesters walked around the park with signs. Some of the original Occupy Wall Street mainstay sat on the sidewalks begging for money.
Occupy Wall Street lawyers applied for a temporary restraining order at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
The court order was issued by Supreme Court Judge Lucy Billings. The official document states that the city, the police department, and Brookfield Properties, among others are “prohibited from evicting protesters from Zuccotti Park and enforcing ‘rules’ enacted after the occupation began or otherwise.”
