Widespread Protests Planned

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

Guards try to wake a man sleeping in Zuccotti Park on Wednesday.

The newly homeless Occupy Wall Street activists on Thursday plan a citywide day of demonstrations, an event that will test both the movement's resilience following its eviction from Zuccotti Park and the city's ability to deal with the decentralized protests.

Protesters plan to start early. At 7 a.m., some say they'll try to march on Wall Street and disrupt the beginning of the work day. So far, a heavy police presence and a warren of barricades have kept protesters from holding serious protests on Wall Street. Others will gather in Zuccotti Park.

In the afternoon, they're urging people to gather at transit hubs in each of the five boroughs. They've also called for student walkouts.

Year Appointed: 2004
By: Gov. Mitt Romney

ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON—A Boston judge on Wednesday ordered the city not to remove Occupy Boston protesters or their tents from their encampment in the city's financial district without court approval, except in an emergency.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances McIntyre granted the temporary restraining order sought by Occupy Boston after a lengthy court hearing.
The protesters filed a lawsuit against the city Tuesday, saying they were concerned they could be forced out in the middle of the night as Occupy protesters in New York City were this week.
Judge McIntyre's order is temporary. The judge said she will hear additional arguments on ...

Then, protesters plan to take trains to Foley Square, in Lower Manhattan. While on the subway, groups will talk about economic inequality, one organizer said.

At Foley Square, plans call for a large rally that is being backed by some of the city's largest unions, one of which has obtained a permit for the rally. Protesters then plan to march across the Brooklyn Bridge's pedestrian path. The events are tied to the Occupy Wall Street movement's two-month anniversary.

It's not clear how disruptive demonstrators plan to be, or what kind of police response they'll face. City officials on Wednesday said they're expecting problems and police are prepared to handle them.

"Everything that we have seen and heard suggests that we may have tens of thousands of people tomorrow protesting," Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson told reporters on Wednesday. "The protesters are calling for a massive event aimed at disrupting major parts of the city."

Paul Browne, an NYPD spokesman, declined to comment on any police department plans for policing the various protests on Thursday. "We don't talk about police tactics in advance," he said.

A police officer who works in a nonpatrol position in a Manhattan precinct said he has been ordered to report to duty policing the Occupy Wall Street protest at 4 a.m. Thursday. The officer, who asked not to be identified, said he has been told to muster at Broadway and Exchange Place and to bring "hats and bats," terms for riot helmets and batons. He said he didn't know exactly how many officers like him have been ordered to the detail but supposed if they're pressing him into action, "it will be a lot."

Mr. Browne said that in general the protest has been peaceful but that there's been "a small group" of troublemakers.

"Our kind of overall posture has not changed," Mr. Browne said. "We'll continue to accommodate peaceful protest."

One widely circulated video showed a man outside Zuccotti Park on Tuesday yelling that protesters were going to burn New York City to the ground and "you're going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy's." At about 5 p.m. on Wednesday at Zuccotti Park, police arrested Nkrumah Tinsely, 29, of the Bronx and charged him with making terroristic threats. He was awaiting arraignment last night.

With a few exceptions, most of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations haven't had much impact on commuters or the basic functioning of New York City beyond a few relatively small areas, like Wall Street and Zuccotti Park.

The park was barricaded Wednesday, with police and private security guards manning checkpoints to keep protesters from re-establishing the camp that was dismantled early Tuesday in a surprise police raid.

A few demonstrators gathered inside, but most of the construction workers and office workers who used to frequent the park stayed away. Many protesters were elsewhere, too, recovering after the drama and confusion that followed their eviction from the park.

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Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency

A woman makes a sign near the park where protests had been based.

Some volunteers were working to help the movement regroup. Bill Mills, a 20-year-old from New Jersey, was at the United Federation of Teachers space where Occupy Wall Street has been storing its cache of donated supplies. He fielded requests from protesters who came looking for gear such as pants, umbrellas and food.

He said he thinks the sweep of Zuccotti Park will make the protests stronger by stripping away the people who came only for fun and free food, not activism.

" Michael Bloomberg is my hero," Mr. Mills said. "He catapulted us out of all this lethargy. He threw out all the drunks, all the hypocrites, all the liars, all the people who were here for a little bit of fun, and brought us down to the people who are smart enough to get things done and really have something invested in this."