Mayor Bloomberg says 'Occupy Wall Street' protesters can stay indefinitely

As anti-corporate protests continue around Wall Street, Mayor Bloomberg said today that he will allow them to stay indefinitely -- as long as they follow the law.
"The bottom line is -- people want to express themselves. And as long as they obey the laws, we'll allow them to," said Bloomberg as he prepared to march in the Columbus Day Parade along Fifth Avenue.

"If they break the laws, then, we're going to do what we're supposed to do: enforce the laws."
Asked how long he would allow the thousands of Occupy Wall Street protests to continue in Zuccotti Park, Bloomberg said he didn’t know.

GETTY IMAGES
Mayor Bloomberg speaks to the media before the start of the 67th annual Columbus Day Parade.

"I have no idea how much longer. I think part of it has probably to do with the weather," he said.
Bloomberg had blasted the protesters and their message this past Friday, saying, “What they’re trying to do is to take the jobs from the people working in the city,”

At the same time, Bloomberg has defended the NYPD during several incidents with protesters.
The New York rallies have spawned others around the country, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and San Diego.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/mayor_bloomberg_says_occupy_wall_hxsWjgaEegGMELAcDUNAtK#ixzz1aPMPqKJ4

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Comment by guest_blog on December 8, 2011 at 4:04pm: Mayor Tin Ear Mocks Occupy Wall Street

I’ve always suspected that Mayor Bloomberg’s handlers keep him in a giant plastic bubble cut off from world events, but last night confirmed my suspicions when the mayor delivered one of the strangest, tone-deaf performances of his political career. While Occupy chapters in nearly two dozen cities participated in direct actions to reclaim foreclosed homes on behalf of needy families, Bloomberg invited an exclusive media pool to dine at Gracie Mansion for his annual holiday press party, and in order to make light of his recent bad publicity.

Bloomberg has been widely criticized for his handling of Occupy Wall Street’s eviction from Zuccotti Park last month in which reporters were denied access to the park, roughly treated by police, and in some cases, threatened by officers. Rosie Gray, a writer for the Village Voice tried to beg her way into gaining access to the plaza. “I’m press!” Gray reportedly exclaimed, to which a female officer replied, “not tonight.”

Josh Harkinson from Mother Jones had a more intimidating encounter with police. When an officer physically dragged him away from the park, Harkinson demanded to know why he couldn’t observe NYPD actions. “Because this is a frozen zone. It’s a police action going on. You could be injured,” the officer replied.

“What’s your name?” asked Harkinson, to which the officer replied:

“Watch your back.”

In a statement released from Bloomberg’s office on November 17, spokesperson Stu Loesner casually admitted that accredited journalists have been arrested by the city’s police force. Loesner clumsily tried to silence criticism of the mayor by pointing out “only five of the 26 arrested reporters actually have valid NYPD-issued press credentials.” In this statement, Loesner incorrectly assumed the twenty-six arrests all occurred in New York City, thereby accidentally admitting the city had knowingly arrested credentialed press.

The harassment of press opened up new discussion about the city’s procedures to accredit reporters.

Comment by truth on October 21, 2011 at 10:16pm: Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Occupy Wall Street protesters: City will...

Mayor Bloomberg said Friday that he's going to start turning the screws on the Occupy Wall Streeters.

The city is planning to take a harder line on demonstrators camping out in Zuccotti Park - and insist on permits every time they want to march through Lower Manhattan, he said.

"We will start enforcing that more," Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show.

The protesters have a Constitutional right to demonstrate and have mostly been "peaceful," the mayor added.

Comment by Nota Khan on October 11, 2011 at 10:20am: “What they’re trying to do is to take the jobs from the people working in the city,”

Yeah, and remember he also said the bankers were the ones struggling to make ends meet:

BLOOMBERG: The protesters are protesting against people who make $40-50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. That’s the bottom line. Those are the people that work on Wall Street or on the finance sector. [...] People in this day and age need support for their employers. We need the banks, if the banks don’t go out and make loans we will not come out of our economy problems, we will not have jobs. And so anything we can do to responsibly help the banks do that, encourage them to do that is waht we need. I think we spend much too much time worrying about how we got into problems as to how we go forward. [...] Also we always tend to blame the wrong people. We blame the banks. They were part of it, but so were Frddie Mac and Frannie Mae and Congress.

He forgot his buddies in Chicago had been more honest:

Comment by Tammuz Gonzalovich on October 10, 2011 at 4:37pm: How magnanimous of the Mayor! Please feel free to breathe all the air you desire!!!

Ahem.

I agree with Michael Rivero!

Comment by Michael Rivero on October 10, 2011 at 3:30pm: Under the First Amendment, guaranteeing the right to peacefully assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances, Bloomberg cannot say otherwise.