Occupy Toronto protesters react to clearing of occupy movement in New York
Posted November 15, 2011 9:02 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – Members of the Occupy Toronto movement, still camped out in St. James Park, say they watched online as police in New York cleared out their fellow occupiers in Lower Manhattan early Tuesday morning.
The reaction from the crowd in Toronto was mainly negative, and protesters say they have sent a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, calling the use of force unconstitutional.
“Through text, through people that are there, through watching the live stream, through the live chats,” said one protester in Toronto. “Mainstream media has been blocked from reporting from the site, so we’re getting mostly feed from inside the park from people who are sending it out.”
The reaction comes after New York police used a late-night raid to clear out the protesters from Zuccotti Park, citing sanitation and fire concerns.
The protesters will be able to return, but without their tents, tarps and sleeping bags, according to officials in New York.
Here in Toronto, members of the occupy movement marched to the Bay Street office of Brookfield Place, the company which owns Zuccotti Park in New York City.
Mayor Rob Ford and Toronto’s city manager have said several times recently that it is time for the Occupy Toronto movement to come to a peaceful conclusion.
There have been reports that the city will serve eviction notices to the protesters sometime in the near future.
Meanwhile, controversy was stirred when a YouTube video, allegedly from the hacker group Anonymous, warned that they will attack and take Toronto off the Internet if they move in and interfere with the Occupy Toronto protesters.
