Mayoral Candidates Stake Out Own Ground Over Occupy Crackdown
Bill de Blasio said he "would build spaces" where Occupy Wall Street activists can hold discussions with city officials. Joe Lhota said he would respond to Occupy-style protests with the Bloomberg administration's "road map" for such events. And Christine Quinn said conversations between protesters and authorities would be less "adversarial" on her watch.
Nearly two years after Occupy Wall Street protesters took over a park in Lower Manhattan—and then were removed forcibly by police—New York City mayoral candidates have strong opinions about how Mayor Michael Bloomberg responded, and varied ideas about how they would handle similar protests.
To Republicans such as Mr. Lhota and John Catsimatidis, Mr. Bloomberg—who isn't affiliated with either party—handled the protests well. Mr. Lhota said he may even act more quickly than Mr. Bloomberg did, "now that we know what can be done."
Among Democrats, responding to an Occupy-style protest prompted different responses.
"At the end of the day, we failed," Ms. Quinn, the City Council Speaker, said of Mr. Bloomberg's handling of the protests. "The conversation [between protesters and authorities] was adversarial...There should have been a compromise to get them back in [the park]. I disagree with where it all ended up."
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