Occupy Wall Street: New York police evict demonstrators

New York City police moved in on Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, ordering Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who have been encamped in Lower Manhattan since Sept. 17 to leave or risk arrest.

About 1 a.m., police handed out notices from the park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, and the city saying the park had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and hazardous, the Associated Press reported.

Paul Browne, a police spokesman, said most people began leaving when they received the notices; one person was arrested for disorderly conduct.

PHOTOS: Police clear out Zuccotti Park

Rabbi Chaim Gruber, an Occupy Wall Street member, said police officers were clearing the streets near the park.

“The police are forming a human shield and are pushing everyone away,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

The New York Daily News said hundreds of police were at the scene.

"I don't want to leave," protester Ben Swenson, 25, said, according to the Daily News. "It's about social justice, equality, even rights."

Protesters were told they could return but without sleeping bags, tarps or tents.

The protesters' website streamed live video as the raid unfolded. The website also urged people to “get to the park immediately for eviction defense.” Demonstrators shouted “We love our country” and “You don’t have to do this.”

The eviction came as Occupy Wall Street unveiled a call to “shut down Wall Street” on Thursday morning, and to occupy the city’s subways that afternoon.

Brookfield Office Properties and the city came close to removing the demonstrators on Oct. 14, but backed off.

Occupy Wall Street has sparked similar encampments in cities across the nation, including a tent city on the grounds of Los Angeles City Hall. Residents of the Los Angeles encampment were heard banging drums as midnight approached.

The leaderless movement has complained about a range of issues, including Wall Street practices and student loan indebtedness.

Some cities have taken a more aggressive posture to stem the protests in recent days. Riot police evicted demonstrators Sunday in Portland, Ore., while demonstrators have been arrested in Oakland; Albany, N.Y.; Salt Lake City; and Denver.

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Photo: New York City police gather early Tuesday to order Occupy Wall Street protesters to leave Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, their longtime encampment. Credit: Karly Domb Sadof / Associated Press

3rd National Guard member dies after Carson City IHOP rampage

A third National Guard member has died following the shooting rampage inside an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., authorities said late Tuesday.

Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said the third Guard member, a woman, died at an area hospital, the Associated Press reported.

Her death brought the toll to five in Tuesday morning’s shootings: three members of the National Guard, a civilian woman in the restaurant, and the gunman, who took his own life. Seven others were wounded.

Authorities identified the gunman as Eduardo Sencion, 32, of Carson City. They say he entered the restaurant about 9 a.m., went to the back where five uniformed National Guard members were eating breakfast, and began firing, hitting all five.

The man’s motive was unclear. Interviews with Sencion’s family suggest he was mentally unstable.  He had no criminal history, was not a member of the military and had no connection to the diners at the restaurant, Furlong said.

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-- Stephen Ceasar and Steve Clow

Photo: Police investigate the outside the scene of the shooting at an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., Tuesday. A gunman with an assault rifle opened fire inside, killing four people. He later took his own life. Credit: David B. Parker / AP / The Reno Gazette Journal

 

Hurricane Irene: Heavy rains, wind begin to lash N.C. coast

As New York City prepared for a massive transit shutdown, heavy winds and rain from Hurricane Irene began to lash the North Carolina coast Friday night -- a prelude to what government hurricane experts warned could be a devastating weekend trek northward all the way to New England.

Irene remained a Category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds near 100 mph, though the storm's trajectory slowed from 14 mph to 13 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The core of the 200-mile-wide storm was expected to reach the coast of North Carolina late Friday and early Saturday, moving to the mid-Atlantic coast Saturday night and southern New England on Sunday.

PHOTOS: In the path of Hurricane Irene

The storm might weaken a bit after reaching North Carolina, but “Irene is forecast to remain a hurricane” at least through Sunday, the center said in an advisory late Friday.

Storm surges of 6 to 11 feet were expected in North Carolina, and 4 to 8 feet from Virginia to Cape Cod, accompanied by “large … destructive … and life-threatening waves,” the advisory said.

And if all of that misery were not enough, the hurricane center warned that there could be scattered tornadoes in eastern North Carolina.

The storm prompted President Obama to cut short his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, but not before he warned the tens of millions of people in Irene’s expected path: “You have to take precautions now. Don’t wait. Don’t delay. We all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst.”

Officials in New York were taking no chances, ordering hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, halting all train and subway service and closing the region’s five major airports at noon Saturday.

 

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said there was little that authorities could do to force people to leave.

“We do not have the manpower to go door-to-door and drag people out of their homes,” he said. “Nobody's going to get fined. Nobody's going to go to jail. But if you don't follow this, people may die.”

Professional sports events in the area were postponed, and in Atlantic City 11 casinos were going dark.

Nine states declared emergencies and called up National Guard troops to assist in rescues and other emergencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency moved industrial generators, medicine, bottled water and other supplies to staging bases in North Carolina, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
In Morehead City, N.C., some locals were hanging tough Friday night, nibbling on Atlantic Blue Crab Bisque at Bistro by the Sea, sipping exotic cocktails and watching the trouble spinning toward them on a muted Weather Channel.

Among the nightly specials: a $6.95 drink called “Drink Hurricane Irene Away,” which seemed as though it was concocted to use up every last spirit behind the bar in the case the place was totaled on Saturday: vodka, gin, run, amaretto, triple sec, grapefruit juice, pineapple juice and grenadine.

Across town, Morehead City Police Chief Wes Lail finished up a conference call with federal weather officials. The upshot: No one could be sure when Irene would hit this coastal hamlet, or how hard.
“She’s been wobblin’ back and forth,” Lail said. “We won’t know till she gets here.”

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--Richard Fausset in Morehead City, N.C., Kathleen Hennessey in Washington and Steve Clow in Los Angeles.

Photo: President Obama and his family leave Air Force One on Friday night after returning home from Martha's Vineyard a day early. Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters