New York: Judge upholds Wall St protesters' removal

New York police force out Wall Street protesters, arresting at least 70, to allow city sanitation workers to clean up Zuccotti Park.New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement that the city has the ultimate responsibility to protect public health and safety and we will continue to ensure that everyone can express themselves in New York City.Zuccotti Park will remain open to all who want to enjoy it, as long as they abide by the parks rules, Bloomberg added in his statement.Mean while, New York police on Tuesday demolished the Manhattan camp of the anti-Wall Street protests in a surprise raid which threw the two-month-old movement into crisis.Despite launching a swift legal challenge to the dismantling of their tent camp in Zuccotti Park, a judge backed a ban on pitching tents in the private area, ruling the demonstrators could gather but not camp or sleep there.Throughout the day, protestors played a game of cat-and-mouse with authorities as they sought to re-establish their camp a stones throw from Wall Street, the symbolic epicenter of a movement protesting alleged corporate greed which has spawned copy-cats in other US cities and abroad.But in the evening, police reopened the park and let the demonstrators back in one-by-one, stressing they would not be allowed to stay there for the night.The judges ruling vindicates our position that First Amendment rights do not include the right to endanger the public or infringe on the rights of others by taking over a public space with tents and tarps, Bloomberg said.But protesters were also elated that they were allowed back into the park, owned by Brookfield Properties, which they have been occupying since mid-September.New York police had moved in at about 1:00 am on Tuesday with bright lights, overwhelming numbers of helmeted officers, and an army of sanitation workers.