Police, and not the owner of Zuccotti Park, made the call to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters nearly two years ago, a judge ruled this week. So a lawsuit against park owner Brookfield Office Properties by protesters, reporters, and at least one city councilman won’t move forward. U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said the plaintiffs, including Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who was arrested on his way to the park as police cleared out occupiers, had no claim against Brookfield for the crackdown. The suit said police “arrested and assaulted reporters and elected officials, including some of the plaintiffs herein, to prevent them from covering or even observing the police action.” The city has already settled a lawsuit over the removal of the Occupy library, but this suit claimed police and property owners violated activists’ First Amendment rights to speech and assembly, which the city denies.
