Occupy Protesters Attempt to Reclaim Zuccotti Park on New Year's Eve

New York Times:

More than 300 people associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement gathered in Zuccotti Park on Saturday and, in a return to scenes from earlier in the year, held a general assembly meeting, chanted the now familiar slogan “We are the 99 percent” and experienced a bit of friction with security guards.

At about 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, about 100 people started flowing into the park, according to witnesses, and someone erected what was described as a small tent built for a child. Two young girls, who were at the park with their mother, began playing inside.

Though the New York City Police Department had officers fanned out throughout the city for the holiday, there were police officers lined up across the street from Zuccotti Park, at the ready alongside private security guards. They stepped in.

Police officers and security guards instructed protesters to remove the tent, saying it violated rules issued by the park’s owner, Brookfield Properties, banning tents, tarps and other structures inside the square. Meanwhile, a police officer and a security guard, who declined to identify themselves, tried to block other protesters, and at least one reporter, from entering the park. Some people disregarded their instructions and squeezed their bodies through the spaces between metal barricades.