Considering that over twelve hours had passed since Mayor Bloomberg announced that the Occupy Wall Street protesters had until 7 am today to clear out of the park, I had arrived in Zuccotti Park early this morning expecting to see an organized resistance. But as I pressed into the tightly-packed crowd surrounding, the mood looked to be one of uncertainty. In the center of the square, the General Assembly was doing a mic check, but the most of the chants became incomprehensible once they reached the edges. Only an hour remained until the announced deadline and no one seemed sure what exactly was going to happen at 7.
The crowd numbered in the low thousands as far as I could tell, though, as has often been the case with this movement, the line between protester and spectator had grown increasingly blurred. There was no way of knowing which of the people along the perimeter of the square intended on staying to defend against the impending eviction and which had simply stopped by to see what was going on and take some pictures. As the time drew nearer, I figured we’d soon find out, though the surrounding police showed no signs of mobilizing. Then, around 6:30, a crowd suddenly gathered around a middle-aged man standing near me who had been intently scanning his phone. As he triumphantly held up the screen in front of him we all saw the headline stating that deputy mayor had announced that the “cleaning” was being postponed.
It wasn’t clear at what point the word reached the people addressing the crowd in the center, but they shortly began a new speech. Again, the words were hard to make out, but the ones that snapped everyone to attention were: “We’re going to march on Wall Street!” At this, a group of older and obviously experienced African American activists next to me began waving their hands and shouting “No march!” I was as shocked as they were – after all, we had shown up precisely to remain in the park, so why jeopardize our position now when the city could still easily change their mind and take advantage of the reduced numbers? There was some reply from the center about “diversity of tactics,”but in the end, nothing more was heard about the march idea.
As the mood began to lighten, the media teams made their rounds. Nearby, a man with a UAW sign was telling his group that they should try to flag down the camera crews that were picking random people out of the crowd to interview. He explained that the media letting everyone speak was great, but that it was also important that people who can clearly explain the economic message get interviewed. Elsewhere, I saw several older activists who appeared to be proactively following the same advice. But a few feet away, a louder young man with a shaved head and several reporters gathered around him was yelling “Fuck ’em!” in response to being asked whether he had been worried about police action.
Meanwhile, the cleaning crews that had been formed the previous night resumed their work. Especially after last night’s rain, the square looked pretty clean. The only unfortunate thing I saw was that some of the flower beds around the perimeter had been trampled – not by the people camped out in the park, but by the crowd of onlookers and supporters that had gathered.
If the events I witnessed this morning showed anything, it was that: a) the movement has now grown powerful enough to make city officials back down from a public threat, and b) more coherent leadership needs to emerge, hopefully as the older and more experienced activists continue to step up. Brookfield Properties has signaled their willingness to work out an arrangement with the protesters cleaning that would allow them to remain in the park, which is what they had initially asked for.
Though this is an important victory for the movement, for now it remains a temporary one, and attempts at eviction in other cities have continued. What is needed now is for the property owners and protesters to come to a long-term agreement on park maintenance, and for the OWS legal team to seriously tackle the issues of tarps and protection from the elements, as well as bathroom arrangements. Complacency is not something this movement can afford.
