Bloomberg: Call for Occupy Probe is 'Ridiculous'

WNYC News | Dec 8, 2011

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is standing behind the NYPD's handling of protesters that once inhabited Zuccotti Park.

On Tuesday, Congressman Jerry Nadler wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to launch a probe into allegations that the NYPD used excessive force against Occupy protesters in Zuccotti past month.

Bloomberg said Nadler should spend time getting the city more federal funds rather than calling for an investigation.

"If he would spend more time getting us homeland security money, maybe he'd make the streets safer. If he could get us more federal monies maybe we could make our schools better and we wouldn't have some of the things people are protesting against," said Bloomberg.

Bloomberg said the NYPD's handling of the Occupy Wall Street protesters is not a federal issue. In November, NYPD cleared the park in the middle of the night.

The mayor insisted that while the protesters right to protest is protected by the first amendment, the right to set up a tent, the right to sleep in the part, the right to keep other people from coming into the part are not constitutionally protected.

Attorney General Holder has not indicated weather or not he will open an investigation.

 

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