A group of downtown Manhattan residents frustrated with their new neighbors in Zuccotti Park plan to protest the Occupy Wall Street protest at City hall Monday, NBC News reports.
Relations between the Community Board some local residents and the Occupy protesters have been strained since the occupation began almost two months ago. Residents are upset over the incessant drum-circles, people urinating and defecating in the park, and verbal attacks from protesters.
Fliers downtown read, "Mayor Bloomberg is helping them stay."
Protesters have recently responded to such complaints by obtaining their own toilets and limiting drum-circles to just four hours a day (and The New York Times reports that most noise complaints downtown are actually from the construction at the new World Trade Center and not the protest).
Han Shan, a member of the community relations working group, admitted to The Times, however, that the protests will cause some inconveniences, saying "at the end of the day, it's an occupation. We didn't ask permission to be there and we don't want to. It's about bigger, broader issues."
Another complaint from area residents is that the protesters are causing local businesses to lose money. Some businesses, however, have even seen a boost from the protesters. And just last week, The Street Vendor Project, a non profit, launched a website in partnership with OWS that allows people from all over the world to buy food for the protesters from local vendors.
Mayor Bloomberg has alternately criticized and defended the Occupy Wall Street protests, most recently saying that the demonstrators are generally law-abiding people are respectfully practicing their first amendment rights.
CORRECTION: This article previously described the relationship between the Community Board and Occupy Wall Street as "strained." Although there is some friction between the two groups, the Community Board passed a resolution last month recognizing the protesters' right to free speech and to peacefully assemble.
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