The facts are as follows:
1. The city will clear Zuccotti Park tomorrow at 7am. They will be successful.
2. The Protesters will be allowed to be in Zuccotti Park ONLY if they obey the rules, which include no sleeping, no tarps, and no sleeping bags.
3. These rules are designed to destroy the long-term sustainability of the Acampanada style protest.
Why am I so sure that the city will be successful?
The city has the NYPD.
There are 35,000 of them. They have military grade equipment, such as tanks and armored humvees with LRAD sonic weapons. Commissioner Kelly bragged that the NYPD has anti-aircraft capability. You cannot fight the NYPD. That's why nonviolence is absolutely necessary. The moment this turns violent, it's all over. No one wants another London.
That's also why the park will be successfully cleared tomorrow.
“The mayor is a strong believer in the First Amendment and believes that the protesters have a right to continue to protest," Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said in a statement on Wednesday, shortly after Bloomberg toured the site — his first visit.
"At the same time, the last three weeks have created unsanitary conditions and considerable wear and tear on the park."
Holloway said that Brookfield — which owns the plaza, but must keep it open to the public 24-hours-a-day under an agreement with the city, creating a complicated legal situation — will be doing the cleaning in stages.
"The protesters will be able to return to the areas that have been cleaned, provided they abide by the rules that Brookfield has established for the park,” he said.
Source
We also know that this is indeed an attempt to destroy the protest. Here's why: The NYPD assumed that as it got cold, people would leave. Well, it's chilly now, and the Protesters have been getting deliveries of sleeping bags, tarps, space blankets, and raincoats.
They're pretty much guaranteed to have whatever they need to hold the park. They send out a cry for help, it reverberates around the world, and the supplies will pour in.
They can feed themselves because of these supplies, but if they're not allowed to “block walkways” - say, with a kitchen, then they're unable to feed themselves. If they're unable to posses tarps, then they're unable to keep their equipment dry, and there is no live stream. If they're unable to have sleeping bags, they're unable to stay through the winter, because without subzero sleeping bags they'll freeze in the night, without tarps to keep those sleeping bags dry, they'll get wet, and freeze in the night.
While protesters will be allowed back, the entire Sustainable Acampanada system is being targeted for destruction.
That's the whole point of the cleanup.
We'll see how well the NYPD enforces these rules, and we'll see what happens.
The whole WeAreTheOther99 media team will be on the ground at 6 AM tomorrow. Hank will be filming and live tweeting, and I’ll be liveblogging from a secure location to keep the information flowing.
We have our own livestream set up and ready to go which I will link in our liveblog tomorrow morning.
This could be it, Kossacks. I hope you'll stay with us tomorrow as we bring you the day's events, live.
Please donate to our media fund, and keep us on site and in the fight.