New York officials yesterday began the massive task of returning lower Manhattan to normal after police with riot gear cleared the remaining protesters from Occupy City Hall.
The park outside the city hall will be closed for weeks as cleaning crews move in to clean up the large amount of debris and graffiti from nearby buildings and statues.
During his daily briefing, the mayor said New York police officers were dispatched because the protest movement that started a month ago had slowed down. He also said that he was not influenced by President Donald Trump’s threats to send federal agents, but that it was a health and safety issue that they had been observing for days.
‘What we saw change in the last few weeks was that the meeting there got smaller and smaller, it was less and less about protests and more and more it became an area where homeless people gathered. I repeatedly said that we always respect the right to protest, but first we have to think about health and safety, and health and safety issues were growing. So it was time to take action, ‘said de Blasio.
Agents moved in yesterday at 3.40 am, pushing the remaining 70 occupants north on Center Street to Foley Square, where the crowd began to disperse.
Police said they gave the occupants a 10-minute warning before Defund the Police activists “left voluntarily.”
But protesters left graffiti doodles on the floor, walls, and Brooklyn City Hall subway station after the month-long rally, as well as some more unhealthy reminders of their stay.
Yesterday the officers were busy pulling the tents that the activists had been sleeping in garbage trucks.
And cleaning crews were washing graffiti off the walls and floor around City Hall.
A chief of the Manhattan Transportation Authority revealed to the New York Post that protesters had turned subway doors, which they had camped, into a bathroom.
Cleaning crews are seen scrubbing the outside of a subway booth on Wednesday
A chief of the Manhattan Transportation Authority revealed to the New York Post that protesters had turned the gates of the City Hall subway (pictured), which they had camped, into a bathroom.
The goal of the Occupy City Hall rally, similar to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, had been to secure at least a $ 1 billion cut from the New York police budget
What started as a call for serious and festive change in the aftermath of the police murder of American black George Floyd, in an area adjacent to New York City Hall, now has the look, feel, and smell of a busy shantytown as the Thursday, July 2, 2020, at City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan.
The MTA chief said: ‘All the people who were here went to the bathroom at the vents.
‘They were screwed and screwed in the vents. They were using this as an installation, as a bathroom. It’s amazing what’s in there.
A group of transit workers have been tasked with removing brown mud from behind the subway railings, near the Citi Bike rack and in the plaza at the corner of Chambers and Center streets.
An MTA spokeswoman said a vacuum team was deployed to remove everything at the subway entrance, adding that “nothing got to the trains.” Defecation was accompanied by cigarette butts and other trash.
Anthony Lupo, 31, who lives nearby, said he saw people in the group relieve themselves “in public for all to see.”
NYPD police officers clean up city hall after months of occupation by BLM protesters and homeless people
NYPD police officers clean up the city hall after months of occupation by BLM protesters and homeless people. A strong New York police presence surrounded the park, and cleaning crews removed graffiti and signs from the area.
Pictured: City cleaners use sprays to remove graffiti from New York City’s subway station after a month off
NYPD police officers clean up city hall after months of occupation by BLM protesters and homeless people
Sanitation workers cleaned the graffiti yesterday, after Occupy City Hall protesters were cleared overnight by police.
“Graffiti is just another manifestation of the declining city,” Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said yesterday.
Altogether, seven people were detained during the operation on Wednesday night to eliminate the squatters, but the charges are still pending.
An officer was injured after being hit by a brick, police said. The department could not immediately confirm whether the protesters were injured.
After successfully moving the crowd, officers began tearing down makeshift tents and remnants of the camp, which began on June 23 as a protest of police reform in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. .
The video footage captured the moment when officers, dressed in heavy gear, approached protesters who heard singing as they approached.
ABC 7 observed two people arrested. A man also appeared to have suffered from a medical condition and was taken to an ambulance.
New York Police temporarily closed the nearby Brooklyn Bridge while they were undergoing the operation.
Tents are scattered across the floor in front of the Town Hall as cleaning crews prepare for weeks of work ahead
After successfully moving the crowd, officers began tearing down makeshift tents and remnants of the camp.
The cleanup will occur over a period of several weeks after the camp remains for more than a month.
The goal of the Occupy City Hall rally, similar to the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, had been to secure at least a $ 1 billion cut from the New York police budget.
After the reform was approved by the City Council earlier this month, and enacted by Mayor Bill de Blasio last week, the organizers of the protests and many of its members left. Only a few remained, with the majority of the crowd made up of homeless people.
De Blasio’s administration has long stated that homeless camps are no longer allowed in the city, and had been closely monitoring the camp to determine if it was still operating as a form of protest.
.
