Stunning Revelation by NYC Police Commissioner: Protesters Had a ‘Countdown’ & ‘Charged’ Cops
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly made some stunning revelations on Thursday regarding videos that surfaced on YouTube Wednesday night showing police beating back Wall St. protesters. According to him, the protesters actually planned to antagonize police, even instituting a “countdown” before they “charged” officers.
“What they did is they counted. They actually had a countdown — 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 — they grouped together, they joined arms and they charged the police. They attacked the police. They wanted to get into Wall Street, they wanted to occupy Wall Street,” Kelly told reporters.
“These people wanted to have confrontation with the police for whatever reason. Somehow, I guess it works to their purposes,” he added. He also promised such protesters would be “met with force when they do that,“ which he called ”just common sense.”
You can watch him detail his version of events below:
According to Kelly, the protests have cost the city $2 million for officers assigned to the protests.
And if you’re wondering if the police and force the protesters to move, the answer is “no.” WCBS-TV explains:
The problem for the city and the police is even if they wanted to, they can’t evict “Occupy Wall Street” as long as they make Zuccotti Park their headquarters. It is private space that must be opened to the public
“The charter, it gives access to the park 24 hours a day, seven says a week,” Kelly said.
When asked by CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer if there was an end game, his response was carefully considered.
“You know, we’ll see. Right now they’re on private property and people who own that property don’t have the power to eject them,” he said.
But Brookfield Office Properties, which owns Zuccotti Park, seems to be slowly building a case against protesters, saying Thursday that the protestors are interfering with the use of the park by others and are creating sanitary problems.
