Bishop Asks For Leniency From Occupy Wall Street Protestors

NEW YORK (AP) — The top bishop of the Episcopal Church is asking Occupy Wall Street protesters not to trespass on the property of a New York City church that has supported them.

In a rare comment on a local issue, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori (SHOHR’-ee) said in a statement Friday it’s “regrettable” Occupy members want to seize fenced-in property owned by Trinity Wall Street Episcopal church in Manhattan. She says it could result in “legal and police action.”

Occupy press representatives say protesters may take over Duarte Square on Saturday to mark three months of the movement against economic inequality.

The protesters were cleared from their encampment at lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park on Nov. 15. They have asked church officials to let them occupy the church-owned property but have been denied.