NEW YORK -- New York City officials ordered Wall Street protesters to clear out their sleeping bags and tarps, setting the stage for a showdown Friday between police and demonstrators who vowed to do all they could to stay put.
The owner of the private park where the demonstrators have camped out for nearly a month said it has become trashed and unsanitary. Brookfield Properties planned to begin a section-by-section power-washing of Zuccotti Park at 7 a.m.
"They're going to use the cleanup to get us out of here," said Justin Wedes, 25, a part-time public high school science teacher from Brooklyn. "It's a de facto eviction notice."
The demand that protesters clear out sets up a turning point in a movement that began Sept. 17 with a small group of activists and has swelled to include several thousand people at times, from many walks of life. They are united in blaming Wall Street and corporate interests for the economic pain they say all but the wealthiest Americans have endured since the financial meltdown.
There was a frantic scramble of activity in the park Thursday. Hundreds of demonstrators scrubbed benches and mopped the park's stone flooring in a last-ditch attempt to get Brookfield to abandon its plan. A last-ditch protest was planned at midnight.
Protesters would be allowed to return after the cleaning, which was expected to take 12 hours, but Brookfield said it plans to start enforcing regulations that have been ignored.
No more tarps, no more sleeping bags, no more storing personal property on the ground. In other words, no more camping out for the Occupy Wall Street protesters, who have been living at Zuccotti Park for weeks and triggered a movement against unequal distribution of wealth that has inspired similar demonstrations across the country and forced politicians in both parties to take notice.
Protesters say the only way they will leave is by force. The NYPD says it will make arrests if Brookfield requests it and laws are broken.
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