Zuccotti Park cleanup came without warning

City officials said they learned their lessons from an earlier aborted plan to move Occupy Wall Street demonstrators out of a lower Manhattan park.

This time, there was no warning, and it was done after midnight.

By the time Wall Streeters were reporting to work Tuesday morning, Zuccotti Park had been emptied, cleaned and scrubbed, and the eviction proceedings were being reviewed by a judge.

Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said in court papers that the early hour was necessary, citing the last such effort, when the city gave the demonstrators 24-hour notice that they would have to leave at 7 a.m. on Oct. 14 to allow the park to be cleaned by Brookfield Properties, the company that owns the public-access park and skyscraper next door.

In an affidavit submitted to the court, Calloway noted that the advance notice gave demonstrators "time to marshal their forces" so "when the Police Department arrived in the early morning hours on the day of the scheduled cleaning, there were over 2,000 people in the Park and overflowing into the streets."

Calloway said that if the cleaning had gone on that day as scheduled, "it would have been difficult and dangerous" for the police.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday's action was taken in the middle of the night "to reduce the risk of confrontation and minimize destruction to the surrounding neighborhood."

However, the New York Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that, "Rousting hundreds of peaceful protesters from their tents in the dead of night amid a media blackout doesn't promote safety -- it endangers it."

Occupier Patrick Koller, 24, said he was in the park at 1 a.m. and would have left if given a warning.

"If they would have given us an hour notice, it would have been fine and nobody would have been arrested," said Koller, who says he is a native of Tennessee and an Army veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Koller said police forced him from the park and left him without medication, his birth certificate or wallet.

"They said if you go back, you'll get arrested," Koller said.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said about 230 people were in the park when the operation began and about 140 protesters were arrested. Another 60 people in the vicinity also were arrested, Kelly said. Kelly said no pepper spray was used and no serious injuries were reported.

New York City's Sanitation Department said protesters may claim confiscated items beginning Wednesday at a midtown west garage on 56th Street between 11th and 12th avenues from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.

With John Riley