For Immediate Release
October 13, 2011
Contact:
TJ Helmstetter: tjhelm@workingfamiliesparty.org
WFP Statement on Bloomberg Announcement re: Zuccotti Park
The following statement can be attributed to Dan Cantor, Executive Director of the Working Families Party:
Earlier this week, Mayor Bloomberg announced that he would not take measures to remove the Occupy Wall Street protesters from Freedom Plaza-Zuccotti Park and that the protesters were free to remain indefinitely. However, we are troubled by today’s announcement of “park cleaning” that could threaten our fellow New Yorkers’ abilities to remain in the park.
While the proposal to clean out the park section-by-section may seem reasonable on its face, we are troubled by any new conditions imposed before protesters can re-enter the park. Such “rules” imposed by the park’s corporate owners – which include bans on sleeping bags, “storage or placement of personal property,” and “lying down on the ground” – would effectively end the overnight occupation of the park.
We call on Mayor Bloomberg to honor his word that he will not impede the protests. We call on all of New York’s elected officials to join us tonight at 6pm at Freedom Plaza to stand with us in defending the rights of the Wall Street occupiers to assemble peaceably. We call on all members of the public who believe in this movement to join us at the park tomorrow at 6am when the sanitation crews arrive.
Details of tonight’s press conference:
WHO Working Families Party, New York Communities for Change, United NY, Strong Economy for All, labor and community groups and elected officials
WHAT Call on Mayor Bloomberg to honor commitment to the Occupy Wall Street movement
WHERE Brown Brothers Harriman
140 Broadway at Liberty Plaza
New York, NY
WHEN 6pm, Thursday October 13
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