The New York Post reports that Occupy Wall Street started the New Year with an attempt to retake Zuccotti Park that resulted in one police officer being stabbed.
About 800 protesters attempted to re-occupy the park they had made home for two months on New Year's Eve. In a violent clash with police, one officer was stabbed in the hand with a pair of scissors.
A law enforcement source told the Post that hundreds of protesters surrounded the ambulance as it tried to leave with the wounded officer.
Eventually, the ambulance was allowed to take the unidentified officer to Bellevue Hospital where he is in stable condition.
The Post reports that a suspect was arrested in the incident.
The New York Times reported that over 500 protesters gathered at the park on Saturday for a "general assembly" chanting the now familiar slogan “We are the 99 percent.”
The Times adds:
Just after 10:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, officers carried a person out of the park, prompting protesters to follow behind them, shouting “Shame!” The reason the person was escorted away was unclear.
About 20 minutes later, a group of protesters grabbed some of the metal barricades that surround the park and began piling them inside. As they gripped the barricades, police officers took hold as well, and a shoving match began, the silver bars trapped in between. At least one police officer fired an arch of pepper spray into the crowd behind those barricades.Moments later, at least a dozen police officers charged into the park, plowing directly into a crowd of people, some of whom were trying to flee, pushing and shoving. One man was thrown down and pinned to the ground by several officers.In the park, some protesters shouted “Peaceful!” and “Nonviolent!”
“Barricades being torn down at liberty [Zuccotti] park,” they wrote. “Happy new years!!”They later tweeted: “Big crowd at liberty square. We have taken back the park.”
More on Occupy Wall Street at examiner.com can be found here.
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