The owners of Zuccotti Park, Brookfield Properties, were within their rights to eject protesters from the park last November in order to clean it, a Manhattan judge ruled last week.

The judge issued his ruling Friday as he refused to dismiss trespassing, disorderly conduct and other charges against an Occupy Wall Street protester.

The judge wrote that “it is clear that when the defendant was ordered by the police to vacate the park, he was not legally entitled to refuse.”

The judge further ruled that there was no evidence that Brookfield’s move was applied to the defendant and other protesters because of a disagreement with their message.

(Source: WNYC)