Protesters march to Wall Street after park cleanup postponed, multiple arrested

Hundreds of broom-wielding protesters marched on Wall Street Friday morning in New York City after the city announced the postponement of a cleanup of Zuccotti Park, where protesters have been camped out since Sept. 17. Demonstrators shouted "Whose streets? Our streets"and "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street"and waved their brooms in the air as they made their way up toward Wall Street. They also danced and beat on drums to celebrate the decision of postponing the park cleanup, which would have caused a showdown between protesters and police, who had gathered overnight and planned to remove tents and sleeping bags. A protester named Maer told Xinhua that he was inspired by the decision and he believed that the changes will finally come. "It shows the power of people. If people unite together, we can make changes. We will definitely stay in the park as long as we can." The clashes, however, took place near Broadway and Liberty Street where protesters reportedly threw bottles and bags of garbage to the police who traced them all the way on foot and with motorbikes. A police spokesman said at least 14 people were arrested. New York City Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said early Friday morning that his office received an e-mail from Brookfield Properties, the owners of Zuccotti Park that the day-long, multi- phased cleanup would be postponed. He said that the company's CEO wrote that Brookfield would defer the cleaning a few days as it tried to reach an agreement with protesters that would keep the area safe, clean and available to the public. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during his weekly radio show Friday morning that Brookfield Properties informed him the company "got lots of calls from many elected officials threatening them and saying, 'If you don't stop this (the planned cleanup), we'll make your life more difficult.'" The organizer of the Occupy Wall Street announced on their website that protesters will demonstrate in concert over 951 cities in 82 countries this Saturday and protesters in New York City will march all the way up to Times Square for a big rally.