Occupy Wall Street protesters are putting the heat on the FDNY after the fire department confiscated the group’s generators last week from Zuccotti Park, according to a letter from the group.
The demonstrators, represented by attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild, said that the confiscation of six generators as well as fuel on Friday morning was merely a pretext by the city to begin dismantling their Lower Manhattan encampment, which has been in place since Sept. 17.
“Contrary to the Mayor’s public justifications, the seizures were not motivated by health or safety concerns,” said the note, dated Oct. 29, to FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano. “Instead, it appears the City is trying to end the occupation illegally by creating a public health risk.”
Specifically, the letter said that the “notices of confiscation” provided by the city “provide no justification, legal or otherwise, for the seizures. Nor do they adequately describe the seized materials, nor provide information as to how the owners may get the property back.”
And the attorneys said that the move couldn’t have come at a worse time — a day before a record-setting freak snowstorm slammed Central Park with driving winds and nearly three inches of snow.
“Without articulating any identifiable hazard posed by the generators, the City removed a source of heat for hundreds of people one day before the correctly predicted onset of freezing temperatures and snow,” the letter said.
“The City’s removal of the generators is nothing more than a pretext for violating the First Amendment rights of the Liberty Park occupiers by literally freezing them out.”
Gideon Oliver, one of the signatories, said that the lack of heat made it very tough for the protesters to ride out the storm.
“They couldn’t even heat water,” he said.
The letter demands the return of the “illegally seized property,” which includes biodiesel and diesel generators, according to Oliver, who added that he had not received a response from the department as of Sunday.
FDNY spokesman Jim Long said that the department is “asking for time to review the fax and request.”
Protesters struggled to deal with the cold, messy conditions that the storm generated, which soaked clothing and sent three people to the hospital with hypothermia, they said.
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2 Responses
These people are really pathetic. If they were so cold and wet, why didn’t they just go HOME?!!? Because they can’t make such trouble at home, that’s why! I hope the FDNY is not going to buckle under a little pressure. It’s time for these jerks to get a life. They’re really just a bunch of commies trying to overthrow the entire capitalist system, and they really have to be stopped!
Don’t expect that from their brother Obama (acorn is the father)