New York park reopened to anti-Wall St protesters

Protesters celebrate after re-entering Zuccotti Park on November 15, 2011 in New York City. Police had removed the protesters from the park early in the morning. A judge ruled that protesters are allowed back to the park but won't be allowed to camp there. AFP

Anti-Wall Street protesters trickled back into a New York park that had been their home for two months until police cleared the encampment, but they were barred from pitching new tents.

The Occupy Wall Street movement was thrown into crisis during a turbulent 24 hours that began with a surprise early morning raid in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to clear all tents in the privately-owned area.

Protesters then spent the day playing a game of cat-and-mouse with authorities as they sought to re-establish their base near Wall Street, the symbolic epicentre of a movement protesting alleged corporate greed which has spawned copy-cats in other US cities and abroad.

In the evening, police reopened the park and let the demonstrators back in one-by-one -- but only after a New York judge backed a ban on pitching tents, rejecting their legal challenge to the dismantling of the camp.

"No one will be denied entry," a police officer said at the gate, as people began to wander back in again. Once inside, the crowd began to chant: "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street."

Both sides were claiming a victory of sorts after judge Michael Stallman ruled that the owners of the park and the authorities were not denying protesters their constitutional right to freedom of speech by banning them from camping.

"Zuccotti Park will remain open to all who want to enjoy it, as long as they abide by the park’s rules," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

The judge's ruling "vindicates our position that First Amendment rights do not include the right to endanger the public or infringe on the rights of others by taking over a public space with tents and tarps," Bloomberg said.

But protesters were also elated that they were allowed back into the park, owned by Brookfield Properties, which they have been occupying since mid-September.

Dallas Carter, 32, said the protesters "have to go back to court to get the tents and sleeping bags again. But it's still a victory."

"The police don't have too much choice," said Mike Reilly, 29, from Philadelphia. "The movement will survive in one way or another."

Cheering protesters agreed to march to the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday to mark the movement's two-month anniversary.

New York police moved into the park -- a short walk from the stock exchange and the site of the World Trade Center -- at about 1:00 am (0600 GMT) Tuesday with bright lights, high numbers of helmeted officers, and an army of sanitation workers.

About 200 people were arrested during the operation, which saw only sporadic violence and ended before dawn, leaving cleaning crews to cart off piles of tents and other gear, and then scrub the square clean.

The decision by Bloomberg to end the occupation followed crackdowns in other US cities, and spurred officials in London to resume legal action against a camp outside St Paul's Cathedral.

Small business owners in the area had complained about the noise and unsanitary conditions in the camp, accusing the demonstrators of trashing their store bathrooms and driving away customers.

Pressure had been mounting on Bloomberg to resolve the situation in a neighbourhood already strained by years of disruption from the World Trade Centre rebuilding project.

On Monday riot police dismantled a similar protest camp in Oakland, California, arresting more than 30 demonstrators. Some 50 protesters were arrested in Portland, Oregon on Sunday. A protest in Denver was also recently broken up.

Tuesday's development left the Occupy DC protest in Washington as one of the last significant permanent camps created by the movement.

"I don't think there's any plan on leaving," said Marc Smith, a spokesman. "There's really not too much concern at this point."

More than 300 protesters marched on the White House on Tuesday, inviting President Barack Obama -- who was en route to Australia at the time -- to side with their movement.

Elsewhere, at least 1,000 protesters descended on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley, but school officials said they would not allow them to set up a new camp.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama was "aware" of the situation but maintained that "each municipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle these issues."

"We would hope and want that... a balance is sought between the long tradition of freedom of assembly (and) freedom of speech in this country."