Violence erupted on Wall Street this morning with hundreds of protesters clashing with police as they marched in Manhattan - jumping over barriers, pushing over police scooters and blocking traffic.
Fifteen protesters have already been arrested in New York today after they got into fights with police officers after a planned ‘eviction’ was postponed following a last-minute standoff with authorities.
Park owners - backed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg - put off the scheduled clean-up and Occupy Wall Street demonstrators celebrated this morning as they marched down Broadway.
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Fight: A man affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street protests tackles a police officer during a march towards Wall Street on Friday after the demonstrators were told they can stay at Zuccotti Park
Confrontation: A New York City police officer shoves a demonstrator affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street protests as they march through the streets in the Wall Street area on Friday
Happy: Demonstrators with the Occupy Wall Street protests confront New York City police officers
Pain: A New York City police officer runs over a National Lawyers Guild observer as Occupy Wall Street demonstrators march through the roads near Wall Street on Friday
Stop: Police officers try to clear people participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest from marching down the middle of a street in the financial district
INSIDE THE STOCK EXCHANGE...
Stocks scored their first back-to-back weekly gains since early July on Friday, on strong Google earnings and optimism towards a solution to the euro zone's debt crisis.
The gains put the Dow and the Nasdaq back into positive territory for the year, marking a dramatic reversal from two weeks ago, when the threat of a Greek default and sour U.S. data had buyers running from the market.
The Dow Jones was up 166 points, or 1.5 percent, at 11,644. The S&P 500 was up 21 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 1,225. The Nasdaq was up 48 points, or 1.8 per cent, at 2,668.
The dramatic move came just hours after demonstrators chanting 'Hell no! We won't go!' stormed a Wall Street restaurant last night to confront Mayor Bloomberg over a planned clean-up of their camp.
Protesters surrounded Cipriani restaurant in Manhattan as the Mayor was at dinner in an attempt to hand him a petition with 310,000 signatures supporting their right to remain in Zuccotti Park.
Their anger was triggered by the Mayor's endorsement of a clean-up of the 'unsanitary' Occupy Wall Street encampment - which was postponed by Brookfield Office Properties at the last minute.
Mayor Bloomberg said it was Brookfield rather than him that decided to postpone the clean-up, but added that the firm had come under pressure from city politicians, reported the New York Daily News.
Action shot: Occupy Wall Street protesters are arrested during a march in lower Manhattan, New York
Injured: Members of Occupy Wall clash with police during a celebration march on Friday morning in New York
Joy: Columbia University students Zoe Ridolfi-Starr, left, and Quitze Valenzuela-Stookey react with other Occupy Wall Street demonstrators as the announcement that they would not have to leave the park was made
Taking control: New York police officers arrest people participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest
'My understanding is that Brookfield got lots of calls from many elected officials, threatening them and saying: "If you don't stop this, we'll make your life more difficult",' Mayor Bloomberg said.
'If those elected officials would spend half as much time trying to promote (the) city and get jobs to come here, we'd go a long way to answering the concerns of the protests.'
New York City Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway made the announcement and protesters, who viewed the clean-up as an 'eviction notice', streamed into the plaza this morning.
'Late last night we received notice from Brookfield Properties that they're postponing their scheduled cleaning of Zuccotti Park,' a tweet by Mayor Bloomberg's office said this morning.
Orders: Police officers try to clear people participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest on Friday
On the ground: New York City police officers arrest an Occupy Wall Street demonstrator on Friday
Celebration: People participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest march down the middle of Broadway
Horseback: Mounted police officers prepare to defend Wall Street as hundreds of protesters march
Up and over: People participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest jump over a barricade while marching
SO HOW DID THIS ALL BEGIN?
The demand that protesters clear out had set up a potential turning point in a movement that began on September 17 with a small group of activists and has swelled to include several thousand people.
Occupy Wall Street has inspired similar demonstrations across the U.S. and become an issue in the Republican presidential race.
The protesters' demands are wide-ranging, but they are united in blaming Wall Street and corporate interests for the economic pain they say all but the wealthiest Americans have endured since the financial meltdown.
Protesters have had some run-ins with police, but mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge and an incident in which protesters were pepper-sprayed seemed to energise their movement.
The protest has led sympathetic groups in other cities to stage their own local rallies and demonstrations such as Occupy Boston, Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy Seattle.
There was a strong police presence and a showdown with protesters had been feared. Hours earlier, the Mayor had refused to leave his New York restaurant, instead making his exit out of a back door.
‘I'll believe it when we're able to stay here,’ protester Peter Hogness said. ‘One thing we have learned from this is that we need to rely on ourselves and not on promises from elected officials.’
But Nick Gulotta was jubilant. He had been holding up a sign saying: ‘Bloomberg Don't Evict Occupy Wall Street.’ People cheered as he scratched out the ‘don't’ and replaced it with ‘didn't.’
‘It shows when people work together, you really can make a difference and make justice happen,’ Mr Gulotta said.
Boisterous cheers floated up as the announcement of the postponement circulated, and protesters began polling each other on whether to make an immediate march to Wall Street nearby.
‘Late last night, we received notice from the owners of Zuccotti Park - Brookfield Properties - that they are postponing their scheduled cleaning of the park,’ Deputy Mayor Holloway said.
Jubilant: Occupy Wall Street protesters march down Broadway from Zuccotti Park in New York after the park's owners, Brookfield Properties, postponed plans that would have cleared it
Sign change: Members of Occupy Wall Street celebrate after learning that they can stay at Zuccotti Park
On the move: Police on scooters escort protesters as they march down Broadway from Zuccotti Park
Win: Police stand outside of Zuccotti Park as Occupy Wall Street protesters gather to maintain occupation
Victory: Occupy Wall Street protesters march down Broadway from Zuccotti Park in New York on Friday
On guard: Police stand outside of Zuccotti Park as Occupy Wall Street protesters celebrate
Treats: Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, serves ice cream at Zuccotti Park for protesters
10 ARRESTED AT OCCUPY SEATTLE
Ten people in an Occupy Seattle protest were arrested last night at a park, police said.
The demonstrators were detained after Westlake Park closed late on Thursday night.
Detective Mark Jamieson said the arrests came as police focused on protesters associated with a tent who did not comply with orders to leave.
Earlier, some protesters gathered outside a downtown hotel where Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney had a private fundraiser.
‘For the time being (they are) withdrawing their request from earlier in the week for police assistance during their cleaning operation.’
New York police said they would make arrests if Brookfield requested it and laws were broken.
Deputy Mayor Holloway said Brookfield believes it can work out an arrangement with the protesters that ‘will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use,’ it said.
Brookfield had planned to power-wash the plaza section by section over 12 hours and allow the protesters back - but without much of the equipment they needed to sleep and camp there.
Closely-watched: Police on scooters escort Occupy Wall Street protesters as they march down Broadway
Rest: An Occupy Wall Street protester sleeps in New York's Zuccotti Park on Friday morning
Before they knew: An Occupy Wall Street protester scrapes paint that has dripped onto the concrete in New York's Zuccotti Park ahead of the planned eviction
Wash and tidy: Members of Occupy Wall Street clean Zuccotti Park near Wall Street in New York on Thursday
Big effort: The occupiers used sweeping and mopping equipment in an attempt to clean up the park
Makeshift bed: An Occupy Wall Street protester sleeps inside a plastic bin in New York's Zuccotti Park
The publicly-traded real estate firm called the conditions at the park unsanitary and unsafe.
'It shows when people work together, you really can make a difference and make justice happen'
Protester Nick Gulotta
The company's rules, which haven't been enforced, have been no tarps, no sleeping bags and no storing personal property on the ground.
The park is privately owned but is required to be open to the public 24 hours per day. In a last-ditch bid to stay, protesters had mopped and picked up garbage.
Many protesters said the only way they would leave is by force. Nicole Carty, a 23-year-old from Atlanta, had hoped the group's cleaning effort would stave off any confrontation.
Sign: A demonstrator stands in Zuccotti Park on Thursday night with a message to park owners
Defiant: On Thursday night, protesters confronted New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a gala dinner at Cipriani's on Wall Street chanting 'Hell No! We won't go!'
Divisive: Demonstrators had said they would not be going anywhere on Friday morning when Zuccotti Park is schedule to be cleaned, setting the stage for a showdown with police
No showdown: Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not come out of the restaurant to address protesters
Elsewhere: Protesters hold placards with slogans in front of the office of the American Chamber of Commerce in Makati on Friday as Philippine left-wing activists joined the global Occupy Wall Street movement
‘We tell them: “Hey the park is clean, there's no need for you to be here”,’ she said. ‘If they insist on coming in, we will continue to occupy the space.’
'I'll believe it when we're able to stay here. One thing we have learned from this is that we need to rely on ourselves and not on promises from elected officials'
Protester Peter Hogness
A spokesman for Bloomberg, whose girlfriend is a member of Brookfield's board of directors, had said on Thursday that Brookfield had requested the city's assistance in maintaining the park.
‘We will continue to defend and guarantee their free speech rights, but those rights do not include the ability to infringe on the rights of others,’ his spokesman Marc La Vorgna said.
Several protests are planned this weekend across the U.S. and Canada, and European activists are also organising their own demonstrations.
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