Occupy Wall Street protesters to be evicted from lower Manhattan park

"Occupy Wall Street" protesters lost a bid to overturn their eviction and the removal of tents and structures from a lower Manhattan park where they had been demonstrating 24 hours a day for eight weeks.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman, responding to a request that he reverse the eviction, ruled the protesters didn't show "they have a First Amendment right to remain in Zuccotti Park along with their tents, structures, generators and other installations", says BusinessWeek.

Some of that advice may have led to Tuesday's clearing of the original encampment at Zuccotti Park in New York, where police rousted protesters and a judge ruled that their free-speech rights do not extend to pitching a tent and setting up camp for months at a time.

While riot police sweeping through tent cities in Portland, Ore.; Oakland, Calif.; and New York City over the past several days may suggest a coordinated effort, authorities and a group that organized the calls say they were a coincidence, informs The Seattle Times.

The judge's decision Tuesday was the latest development in a growing national drama that began when a community of bed rolls and tents sprang to life in a park near Wall Street nearly two months ago. The movement has spread across the country, and taken with it a tangle of legal, constitutional and public relations problems for city officials.

In his ruling, New York state Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman said protesters "have not demonstrated that they have a First Amendment right" to remain in the park, with their sleeping gear "to the exclusion of the owner's reasonable rights ... or to the rights to public access of others who might wish to use the space safely", reports Boston.com.

As concerns over safety and sanitation grew over the last month, officials from nearly 40 cities turned to each other, sharing what worked and what hasn't as they grappled with the leaderless movement.

Don't set a midnight deadline to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters - it will only give a crowd of demonstrators time to form. Don't set ultimatums because it will encourage violent protesters to break it. Fence off the parks after an eviction so protesters can't reoccupy it.

"It was completely spontaneous," said Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum. "This was an attempt to get insight on what other departments were doing."As concerns over safety and sanitation grew over the last month, officials from nearly 40 cities turned to each other, sharing what worked and what hasn't as they grappled with the leaderless movement.

Don't set a midnight deadline to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters - it will only give a crowd of demonstrators time to form. Don't set ultimatums because it will encourage violent protesters to break it. Fence off the parks after an eviction so protesters can't reoccupy it.

"It was completely spontaneous," said Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum. "This was an attempt to get insight on what other departments were doing", according to STLtoday.com.