Making Safer Spaces: Occupy Wall Street Addresses Questions of Security at Zuccotti Park

Our friend and ally Melissa Gira Grant wrote an article on AlterNet about how to ensure the safety of Occupy protesters.

She writes,

The question of how safe Liberty Plaza is – and for whom – has consumed occupiers and critics for weeks. With Bloomberg and his ad hoc protest committee within City Hall seizing on the issue of public safety as rationale for breaking up the protests, occupiers are working overtime to hold the park from threat of eviction, as well as to prove to the City that they are capable of keeping their own peace. That’s meant addressing reports of sexual assault, along with rumors that NYPD are directing the homeless, drug users, and people struggling with mental illness to the park, and grappling with how to effectively prevent violence without relying on the kinds of policing that have been used against the occupation. Where once the occupation was thought of as its own demand, now the demands of how to keep occupiers safe dominate their days.

Check out the whole article, it’s a worthwhile read! You can also follow Melissa on Twitter: @melissagira

Tags: activism, melissa gira grant, Occupy Wall Street, safety