Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond) LiveStream: Police Move on Liberty Park in New York

Now see Occupy Wall Street Follow-Up & LiveStream: The Return to Liberty Square

See also Occupy Wall Street 1st-Hand: "All Around Me, Peaceful Protesters Were Being Pepper-Sprayed and Zip-Cuffed"

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2200 GMT: Josh Harkinson and James West of Mother Jones present the climactic moments of the police raid of Zuccotti/Liberty Square early this morning:

2155 GMT: A New York court has ruled that the city can bar protesters from bringing tents, sleeping bags, and tarps back into Zuccotti/Liberty Square when it is re-opened.

2120 GMT: The seven journalists arrested today --- Patrick Hedlund, a news editor for the Manhattan news website DNAinfo.com; Paul Lomax, a freelance photographer assigned to DNAinfo.com; freelance journalist Jared Malsin; Julie Walker, a freelance reporter for National Public Radio; Matthew Lysiak of the New York Daily News; Associated Press journalist Karen Matthews; and AP photographer Seth Wenig.

1830 GMT: Writer John Knefel reports, "Hundreds now walking south on Broadway, returning to Liberty Square. Now police vans. Riot gear is back."

He continues, "Stuck at the intersection of Liberty and Broadway. Too crowded to move any closer to park."

Pictures of the crowds waiting to get into Zuccotti/Liberty Square:

1810 GMT: Back from an academic break to find that the court ruling on whether protesters can re-enter Zuccotti/Liberty Park is still awaited.

The ruling was to start at 1630 GMT. Lucy Billings, who issued the temporary order calling on the city to allow protesters back into the park, will definitely not be issuing the permanent ruling: she is not on the list of judges, one of whom will be selected by computer.

Twenty more people have reportedly been arrested after this morning's detention at Zuccotti/Liberty Park, most of them at 6th Avenue. Four more journalists --- in addition to Jared Malsin, who was detained early this morning --- are confirmed to have been taken into custody.

1500 GMT: Marchers moving back towards Zuccotti/Liberty Park:

1415 GMT: The "highlights" of the press conference by New York City Mayor Bloomberg, after repeating the opening gambit of his statement --- "Inaction was not an option. We could not wait for someone in the park to get killed" --- verged on the Orwellian.

The mayor said that the media were shut out of Zuccotti/Liberty Park to "protect the members of the press". And the court order saying that protesters cannot be shut out of the park? He will accept it "if it exists".

1335 GMT: A picture of marchers gathered outside City Hall --- they were blocked from going farther by a line of police and have moved to Canal and 6th:

Meanwhile, confusion at Zuccotti/Liberty Square, as Clay Shirky writes, "They re-opened Zuccotti, and when occupiers entered, they re-closed it. They are re-ejecting people now."

A lawyer for activists says the main march will try and enter the park at 9:30 a.m. (1430 GMT).

1325 GMT: A judge has issued a temporary restraining order allowing protesters to return to Zuccotti/Liberty Park.

Justice Lucy Billings set a hearing date for Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. (1630 GMT) and said that until the matter was considered then, the city and Brookfield Properties, the owners of Zuccotti Park, are prohibited from evicting protesters or "enforcing 'rules' published after the occupation began or otherwise preventing protesters from re-entering the park with tents and other property previously utilized".

Activists are planning to set off on a march soon from Foley Square back to Zuccotti/Liberty Square, via City Hall.

Part of the statement issued by the activists after the raid on Zuccotti/Liberty Square:

Liberty Square was dispersed, but its spirit not defeated. Today we are stronger than we were yesterday. Tomorrow we will be stronger still. We are breaking free of the fear that constricts and confines us. We occupy to liberate.

We move forward in the grand tradition of the transformative social movements that have defined American history. We stand on the shoulders of those who have struggled before us, and we pick up where others have left off. We are creating a better society for us all.

Occupy Wall Street has renewed a sense of hope. It has revived a belief in community and awakened a revolutionary spirit too long silenced.

Join us as we liberate space and build a movement.

1310 GMT: Another video of the showdown between riot police and protesters this morning (about 0930 GMT), before some moved towards Foley Square for a renewed occupation:

1300 GMT: New York City Mayor Bloomberg is due to give a press conference now. Meanwhile, MSNBC carries a series of striking photographs of the clear-out of Zuccotti/Liberty Park --- this one is by Don Emmert of AFP/Getty:

1130 GMT: Protesters are convening in Foley Square in lower Manhattan in New York City. Organisers are claiming 600 people gathered, with more expected, and are hoping to march at 9 a.m. local time (1400 GMT).

Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has issued a statement that the police raid was carried out at 1 a.m. "to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood". He insisted that there were health and safety hazards: "I could not wait for someone in the park to get killed or to injure another first responder before acting." He added, "“Unfortunately, the park was becoming a place where people came not to protest, but rather to break laws, and in some cases, to harm others."

Bloomberg assured that protesters can return when the park is cleaned and "are welcome there to exercise their First Amendment rights, and otherwise enjoy the park". However, they "will not be allowed to use tents, sleeping bags, or tarps", as the Mayor claimed that the demonstrators had made the park "unavailable to anyone else...for passive recreation".

Police say more than 100 people were arrested in Zuccotti/Liberty Park this morning.

1030 GMT: A message from journalist Josh Harkinson adds context to claimed video of "tear gas" (see 0855 GMT) --- some sources indicate "pepper spray" or "fire extinguisher" --- used on the last remaining protesters in Zuccotti/Liberty Park: "The occupiers I am with tell me that the people chained in the park were attached to a pole in the middle of the kitchen tent. They were teenagers, Like 16 years old or so."

0930 GMT: Video of protesters re-grouping at Broadway and Pine in New York after dispersal from Zuccotti/Liberty Park:

0920 GMT: Josh Harkinson sends the message, "Cops just violently shoved me away as I tried to shoot [the picture of] this man in a stretcher being loaded into ambulance. The man was on oxygen, indicating serious injury. He was wheeled out of the park.

Harkinson's image of a cleared Zuccotti/Liberty Park:

0855 GMT: Video has been posted which appears to show protesters, linked together, being tear-gassed.

0835 GMT: Video of the riot police moving into Zuccotti Park:

0825 GMT: Reports claim New York Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and journalist Jared Malsin are among those who have been arrested.

Megan Carpentier of Raw Story says a police scanner indicated 150 arrests near the main site and 32 elsewhere.

0810 GMT: Liberty Park now appears to be cleared except for 40-100 protesters.

A New York television station: "Residents near Zuccotti Park not being allowed out of building to watch; NYPD telling doormen to lock up."

0800 GMT: Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones, who was unable to get into Liberty Park earlier, now sends the message, "I got in. I'm right across street from Zuccotti. Tons of riot cops surrounding #OWS kitchen."

He adds, "I think I am the only reporter in here."

0735 GMT: Ryan Devereaux of Democracy Now!: "The NYPD are now setting up a "pen" for the press as far from the remaining protesters as they can place us."

Police are reportedly preventing hundreds of protesters on Broadway from reaching the park.

0730 GMT: From Megan Carpentier of Raw Story, "NYPD police scanner says they've got minimal cops available to respond to a potential shooting uptown because of the raids."

Activists report that more than 5000 books of the Occupy Wall Street library have been thrown into a dumpster.

0715 GMT: Reports and LiveStream indicate police in riot gear have cut off Zuccotti Park and are tearing down tents. A photograph indicates a long-range sonic device has been brought in, and there are unconfirmed claims of the use of pepper spray.

Few reporters are able to cover the story. A local New York City television station has had to ground its helicopter --- "We're going home...police helicopter shining lights causes problems." Another report indicates that police refused to let the helicopter take off after it landed for refuelling.

Reporter Josh Harkinson, stopped from entering the park, sent this follow-up message, "Just tried to get in by climbing over fence in subway tunnel but gate up to park shuttered."

Harkinson adds, "There is a huge dumpster by the park already filled to the brim with tents and other belongings of occupiers.

0710 GMT: Just over an hour ago, reports came in that New York City police have surrounded Zuccotti Park, renamed Liberty Park by Occupy Wall Street protesters, and intended to clear the area.