It must have been getting too close to him, time to scream POLICE! IT would have been something if no one showed up.

Quote:NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The NYPD cleared Occupy City Hall protesters from their encampment in a pre-dawn operation.

Several hundred police officers in riot gear moved in around 3:40 a.m. Wednesday.

Chief Raymond Spinella told reporters they gave a 10-minute warning, and the removal “went smoothly.”

And while the police in riot gear certainly looked intimidating, the NYPD carefully plotted the operation, coming with attorneys and video cameras to document officers’ actions. There were seven arrests, including a person throwing a brick at an officer, who was not injured.

“The police department has closely monitored the situation at the park since its inception,” he said. “We felt the time had come to end the occupation and allow cleanup crews to begin the process of removing the graffiti.”

Added Police Commissioner Dermot Shea: “I would characterize it as one in the win column and another step towards getting back to normalcy here in New York.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio said earlier this week the NYPD would make the call on when to clear the park.

CBS2 political reporter Marcia Kramer asked the mayor what changed.

“The gathering there got smaller and smaller, was less and less about protest, and more and more it became an area where homeless folks were gathering,” de Blasio replied. “I said repeatedly, we do always respect the right to protest, but we do have to think about health and safety first — and the health and safety issues were growing.”

He said the Department of Homeless Service was also on scene to help engage people.

“There’s been regular efforts by Homeless Services to engage folks who are there. They’ve been out there again today,” he said. We want to make sure that as many people as possible will accept the shelter we have for them, hopefully turn their life around and not go back to the streets.”

Protesters had been illegally camped outside City Hall for the past month, calling to defund the NYPD, help the formerly incarcerated, and provide affordable housing.

“We pay for this park with our tax paying dollars and we feed people, we cloth people, we give people the mental health services they deserve,” said a man named “Gabe,” of the Lower East Side.

CBS2’s John Dias spoke with people who said the early morning raid was far from peaceful.

“We did not get a warning. They came in through the back and started to throw tables, started to rip into tents where people, children, sleep there, families sleep there,” said Yessenia Benitez, of Harlem.

“They were going in there, ripping off the tents, dragging people out,” another protester said.

Many said in order to make them vulnerable and get them to leave, fires were set on Chambers Street by someone set up by police. The NYPD denied the allegations.

“We went over there to try to put it out, even though we didn’t start it,” said Shermaine Lanster of Brooklyn.

Dias also spoke with many who said they support the Black Lives Matter movement, but they don’t like what the camp has been doing and they’re happy to see the graffiti is being cleaned up.

“I think the protesters have a point. I don’t like the vandalism at all. It dilutes their point,” said Matthew Covary of the Upper West Side.

“I think they should just camp out somewhere that you don’t have to inconvenience society,” another person added.

Police said the area will likely be closed for weeks as crews begin the cleanup process.

Protesters, however, say they aren’t giving up without a fight.

“We are reclaiming our space, it’s as simple as that,” one protester told CBS2’s Ali Bauman. “The revolution is not going to die just because they simply decide to take the space we occupy.”

In Wednesday evening’s torrential downpour, around 100 protesters headed toward City Hall.

Police moved quickly to barricade off the entire area, but several people tried storming past, clashing with police by Foley Square.

Some protesters were pushed to the ground, but the crowd kept moving, trying to get back to the grounds of their former encampment.

Link

More video at the link.

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Quote:An Occupy City Hall protester faces charges for trying to cut the brake lines of a New York City Police Department van, according to authorities.

Jeremy Trapp, 24, was arrested Friday after a detective saw him under an NYPD van, according to the New York Daily News. Video surveillance also caught the suspect on camera underneath the vehicle.

Trapp was trying to cut the brake lines, according to authorities, but actually cut a line that calculates the speed of the wheels, court documents noted.

He was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, criminal tampering, auto stripping, and obstructing governmental administration and was released without bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for December.

NBC New York reported that Trapp was seen coming and going from the Occupy City Hall protest in recent weeks. The protest camp was established following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis with the goal of persuading New York City officials to cut the NYPD budget by $1 billion, according to the New York Times.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in June that the NYPD budget would in fact be cut following activists' calls nationwide to restructure and defund police departments.

“I’m excited to say we have a plan that can achieve real reform, that can achieve real redistribution, while at the same time ensure that we keep our city safe, while we make sure that our officers are on patrol around where we need them around this city,” the mayor said.

The number of violent crimes in New York City has spiked over the summer amid protests and riots against police brutality and systemic racism. Some have said the increase in crime is due in part to the disbandment of the NYPD’s plainclothes anti-crime unit in June in an effort to reform the department.

“Anti-Crime’s mission was to protect New Yorkers by proactively preventing crime, especially gun violence,” Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said in a statement at the time. “Shooting and murders are both climbing steadily upward, but our city leaders have decided that proactive policing isn’t a priority anymore. They chose this strategy. They will have to reckon with the consequences.”

Link

Released without bail.

The NYPD needs to tell De Blasio to sit and spin. Call the social workers to take care of it.