STEVE CHIOTAKIS: Police moved in this morning on the Occupy Wall Street staging grounds in lower Manhattan, trying to clear out the camp at Zuccotti Park in order for the privately owned area to be cleaned. At least 70 protesters were arrested — mainly people who tried to chain themselves to trees or lightposts… or even to other people.
Chris Porter’s traveled across the country as an Occupy protester and he was in New York for the latest skirmish with police. Hey Chris.
CHRIS PORTER: Hello, how are you?
CHIOTAKIS: I’m doing well. You’ve been traveling for thousands of miles there with the Occupy protests, what’s going on right now in New York?
PORTER: What’s going on right now is the cops are cleaning out and clearing out Zuccotti Park about an hour ago. They forcefully came in there and completely destroyed our camp, our kitchen, everything is completely wiped out.
CHIOTAKIS: What do you mean, destroyed? What did they do?
PORTER:They came in there with knives and rods, and completely disassembled all of our tents, cut and shredded everything, threw it in major piles, regardless if it was fragile — everything was completely by force and they just went in there and destroyed everything.
CHIOTAKIS: So everything is taken out of Zuccotti Park, what does this do to you in the meantime? Do you regather, regroup, try to find another place?
PORTER:Yes, we have a few G.A. meetings that are going on right now blocks away in multiple directions to find out what kind of direct action is going to be taken. There are people from from Harlem, people from Brooklyn, and people from Queens that are storming on their way down here to Lower Manhattan to find out what our next step is going to be.
CHIOTAKIS:What does this mean, Chris, for the movement in the long-term?
PORTER:This means that you know, you’re going to have to take a few licks if you want to stand up for what you believe in. They’re not chasing me right now.
CHIOTAKIS:Chris Porter from near Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. Chris, thank you.
PORTER:Thank you.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
