New York Park reopened to anti-Wall St protesters

NEW YORK: Anti-Wall Street protesters flooded back late Tuesday into a New York park that had been their home for two months until police cleared the encampment, but they were barred from pitching new tents.

The Occupy Wall Street movement was thrown into crisis during a turbulent 24 hours that began with a surprise early morning raid in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to clear all tents in the privately-owned area.

Protesters then spent the day playing cat-and-mouse with authorities as they sought to re-establish their base near Wall Street, the symbolic epicenter of a movement protesting alleged corporate greed which has inspired like-minded demonstrators in other US cities and abroad.

In the evening, police reopened the park and let the protesters back in one-by-one -- but only after a New York judge backed a ban on pitching tents, rejecting their legal challenge to the dismantling of the camp.

"No one will be denied entry," a police officer said at the gate, as people began to wander back in again. Organisers put the number at 1,200. Once inside, the crowd began to chant: "All day, all week, occupy Wall Street."

Both sides were claiming a victory of sorts after judge Michael Stallman ruled that the owners of the park and the authorities were not denying protesters their constitutional right to freedom of speech by banning them from camping.

"Zuccotti Park will remain open to all who want to enjoy it, as long as they abide by the park's rules," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

The judge's ruling "vindicates our position that First Amendment rights do not include the right to endanger the public or infringe on the rights of others by taking over a public space with tents and tarps," Bloomberg said.

But protesters were also elated that they were allowed back into the park, owned by Brookfield Properties, which they have been occupying since mid-September.