As is often the case with breaking news, The Guardian's liveblog of the happenings at Zucotti Park this morning is a really good way to follow the action (in addition to Xeni's excellent ongoing coverage):
9.07am ET / 2.07pm GMT: Going back over the Bloomberg statement, much of which he repeated at his press conference, perhaps the most striking line was his cold assertion that when First Amendment rights and and safety priorities clash, health and safety that trumps the US constitution. Here's the quote in full again:
"From the beginning, I have said that the City had two principal goals: guaranteeing public health and safety, and guaranteeing the protesters' First Amendment rights. But when those two goals clash, the health and safety of the public and our first responders must be the priority."
8.46am ET / 1.46pm GMT: Bloomberg ends with a peroration to New York City as city that prides itself defending the right to freedom of expression. Provided the court order "if it exists" (it does) is rescinded, that right will be restored in Zuccotti Park, he says. And with that, the press conference is over.
Occupy Wall Street: police evict protesters – live updates
(Image: OWS-mediaguy1, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from nickgulotta's photostream)
