Protests meant to mark the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street have thrust the movement back into the spotlight, mostly due to one particularly violent and ugly confrontation.
If you were to travel past New York's Zuccotti Park on Thursday evening, it would have looked a bit like it did last fall, as Occupy Wall Street protesters rallied there after six of them reportedly got arrested while protesting Bank of America.
It was just like old times at Zuccotti Park on Tuesday night, as protesters marched to the tiny downtown Manhattan square with their sleeping bags and police rolled out the paddy wagons.
Before Occupy Wall Street protesters started sleeping in Zuccotti Park on Sept. 17, launching the movement that became one of the biggest stories of 2011, it was a forgotten little downtown park. And, even though it's been "re-occupied," it feels that way again.
Protesters surged into Zuccotti Park Tuesday night shortly after its owner, Brookfield Office Properties, quietly removed barriers that had been restricting access since police removed the encampment there in November.
Zuccotti Park is once again open to the public, days after police closed it on New Years Eve in response to an Occupy Wall Street demonstration there, so feel free to head downtown because, hey, it's a balmy 24 degrees in New York City right now.
On New Year's Eve, demonstrators briefly removed the police barricades surrounding Zuccotti Park, but since the cops re-assumed control of the space it's been completely closed to the public.
Last night, The Daily Show stirred up class divisions between Occupy Wall Street protesters, airing a pre-eviction segment of correspondent Samantha Bee visiting Zuccotti Park and framing it as a microcosm of the city: complete with different sections for poorer and richer seeming protesters.
For some it was an extraordinarily uncomfortable night of upright dozing at Zuccotti Park, but for others it was the first time they'd spent the night inside in weeks.
Sometime around 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, New York City police officers moved in on Zuccotti Park, ejecting Occupy Wall Street protesters and clearing the camp of their tents and belongings
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has shifted gears a few times during the lifespan of the Occupy Wall Street encampment, but of late he's settled into a wait-and-see attitude that relies on outside factors such as the weather to help him end the situation.
The news coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York resembles city-oriented metro-style reporting, and not New York metro either, but rather coverage of Zuccotti Park as its own little town.
Occupy Wall Street got its generators back after its legal team pressed the Fire Department of New York to release them.
Tuesday's excitement at Zuccotti Park was supposed to come in the afternoon, with David Crosby and Graham Nash scheduled to play a concert, but they may not make it into the park as police and firefighters have reportedly barricaded the area after a bomb scare.
Today, Mayor Bloomberg reportedly hinted at what could be used as tipping point for clearing Zuccotti Park: crime at the encampment.
The Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park has had to deal with its share of undesirable behavior, from uncooperative drummers to a drug-related arrest, but Wednesday saw the most serious criminal allegations yet, as a volunteer in the encampment's kitchen has been arrested for sexual assault and rape.
Though the running media chorus has been that Occupy Wall Street is the left's answer to the Tea Party movement, the former doesn't seem as keen on making themselves heard at the voting booth as the latter.
Cameras, commotion and saturation media coverage are attracting all sorts of hangers-on to Occupy Wall Street protests.
New York City police and firefighters calmly walked into the Occupy Wall Street encampment and cleared out their electric generators and the fuel that runs them.
Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York are worried that cold weather will mute their movement, and the freezing temperatures elsewhere in America prove that they're right to stress about it.
Occupy Wall Street protesters camped at New York's Zuccotti Park won the support of the local community board on Tuesday night, but the board insisted the protesters must curb the incessant drumming and figure out their bathroom situation.
At a community board meeting on Thursday night, the protesters and the residents living close by Zuccotti Park hashed out ideas that tried to satisfy both parties, limiting drum beats and arranging for bathroom access.
The leaderless Occupy Wall Street encampment is shifting away from its anarchic roots to something resembling a governed society, and not everyone in Zuccotti Park is happy about it.
Zuccotti Park is not a restaurant, night club, art gallery or fashion show, but that won't stop culture writers from trying to convince us otherwise.
Donations are coming in through its web site and a big plastic jug
Brookfield properties, the parks owner, postponed a planned Friday cleaning
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