Bloomberg: Occupy Wall Street's self-policing is 'despicable'

Mayor Michael Bloomberg got even testier with the Occupy Wall Street protesters Thursday, calling efforts to self-police their Zuccotti Park home “despicable” in light of rape allegations there.

The mayor’s comments came as more than a dozen protesters were arrested outside Goldman Sachs and in the park. Protesters who were cuffed in September rejected a deal from prosecutors that they found unacceptable.

Bloomberg, who defended the rights of downtown residents and business earlier this week, said Thursday that the protesters’ decisions to chase rule-breakers and criminals from the park instead of having them arrested by nearby cops “endanger every New Yorker.”

A 26-year-old Brooklyn man was arrested Wednesday on charges of sexually assaulting a fellow female protester.

“It is despicable. It is outrageous,” Bloomberg told reporters Thursday. “It allows the criminal to strike again.”

Protester spokesman Bill Dobbs dismissed the comments as the mayor “pandering to fear.”

“What we’re seeing is a lot of effort to undermine and suppress the movement and divert from what the mayor and his billionaire friends are doing to the country,” he said.

“In any kind of crowd of that size, yeah, this is a city, and sometimes people are disruptive or harmful,” Dobbs admitted.

He noted that protesters have requested and received assistance from EMS and police on several occasions, but added, “There have been some instances where the police were asked to intervene and they wouldn’t.”

The NYPD did not respond to the allegations by press time.

Thursday brought other troubles for the protesters. At least 19 protesters were arrested throughout the day — 16 for blocking the entrance to Goldman Sachs’ headquarters as they demonstrated against the financial institution and its CEO, and three others at Zuccotti Park for wearing masks.

Earlier on Thursday, the first of hundreds of protesters arrested during earlier demonstrations made court appearances. Of 78 arrested while marching near Union Square in September, the majority of them rejected a deal to have the charges dismissed if they weren’t arrested again in the next six months, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Gideon Oliver, a lawyer with the National Lawyer’s Guild who is representing many of the protesters, said many want the charges dropped because they think their arrests were unjustified.

“People who felt they were being charged with things they didn’t do want to demand a trial and put the state to its proof,” Oliver said. “There will be hundreds of cases coming through the court system. Many or all of them, shouldn’t be there in the in the first place.”

A spokeswoman for the DA’s office said, “the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office fully supports every person’s first amendment right to peacefully demonstrate,” adding, “at the same time, we are charged with enforcing violations of the law.”

(With Erik Ortiz)

In other Occupy Wall Street developments:
- For the second day, police removed many of the barricades that have for weeks lined Wall Street and surrounding blocks during the day Thursday. The NYPD and Mayor’s office said they would remove and replace them “as necessary,” but were trying to have fewer of them.
- Protesters nationwide are hosting “bank transfer day” on Saturday, encouraging people to move their money from large banks to credit unions.
- Protesters, unions and community groups will meet at Hostos College in the South Bronx to hold a general assembly meeting Saturday afternoon.