Protesters at the “City Council of Occupy” turned the city into a literal bathroom, using subway grates as makeshift latrines during their month-long encampment in Lower Manhattan, an MTA supervisor revealed Wednesday as workers cleaned up the mess.
“All the people who were here went to the bathroom in the vents,” said the traffic chief.
“They were teasing and pissing on the vents. They were using this as an installation, as a bathroom. It’s amazing what’s in there. “
The supervisor was supervising several workers with the difficult task of using poles to push disgusting brown mud between the bars of the metal bars.
Workers were also using a hose and broom to wash away the dirt, which was filled with paper, cigarette butts, and other debris.
A sanitation worker assigned to clean up the area said the problem was not limited to the railings, located near the Citi Bike rack in the plaza at the southwest corner of Chambers and Center streets.
“Apparently there is human st everywhere,” said the worker.
MTA spokeswoman Kayla Shults said the louvers “provide ventilation for the subway system,” but noted that there is “a pan that catches everything that goes on.”
“The team that was there on Chambers Street was a vacuum team, so they could take out the vacuum and make sure the screen was completely clear,” added Shults.
The bars are located on line 6 tracks to the south, just south of the station, but Shults said “nothing … got on the trains.”
However, a station worker said the place “smelled awful” once the camp was in place.
“Feces and urine have an odor,” added the worker.
Neighborhood resident Anthony Lupo, 31, said he even witnessed people in the camp relieving themselves “in public for all to see.”
“It was gross,” said Lupo, who works in finance.
Several hundred New York police officers broke into the Occupy City Hall camp early Wednesday morning, about 10 minutes after warning everyone who gathered there to disperse, chief of support services Raymond Spinella said during a conference call subsequent press.
Seven people who refused to leave were detained, including one person who threw a brick at a police officer, New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said.
Fortunately, that officer had a shield. They told me he left a dent in the shield, but no one was hurt, “Shea said.
The bricklayer will be charged with attempted assault on a police officer, but the others “will be released on lesser calls,” Shea said.
Up to 60 protesters and homeless people received the boot during the operation, police said.
The city’s homeless assistance workers “hired” just two homeless people, a city council representative said, and later clarified that no one accepted the city’s help or services.
Additional reporting by Julia Marsh
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