Elmont Online

NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg cited unconfirmed reports Thursday that Occupy Wall Street protesters are allowing crimes to go unreported and are instead chasing wrongdoers out of their park encampment, but declined to say whether the information could be grounds for police to forcibly evict protesters from the site.

"Instead of calling the police, they form a circle around the perpetrator, chastise him or her and chase him or her out into the rest of the city to do who knows what to who knows whom," Bloomberg said, although he noted the city was uncertain of the reports' accuracy. "If this is in fact happening, and it's very hard to get good information, it is despicable."

Protester Justin Stone-Diaz said he knew of two sexual assaults after which the female victims refused to file charges, leaving their fellow protesters -- and the police -- unable to take further action. The protesters gave the police department's liaison detailed information about the incidents, he said.

"As an organization we spent the whole day yesterday trying to convince them to press charges," Stone-Diaz said, but the women refused after initially getting what Stone-Diaz called "bad advice" from other protesters who urged the women not to work with police.

At a question-and-answer session with reporters Thursday, Bloomberg noted that a protester who served food at the camp has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a woman and is also a suspect in a rape at the protest site.

Bloomberg gave no direct answer when he was asked if the reports of criminality and what he said was protesters' continued refusal to stay on the sidewalks during marches could justify a move by the New York Police Department to evict protesters.

Later Thursday, at least 16 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested outside the headquarters of the Goldman Sachs investment firm. Many were carried off by police after refusing to move.