This was a shock. The Mayor's girlfriend was on the board of Brookfield Properties: The company that asked the mayor to move the protestors that he doesn't want in the park anyhow

Wow! Brookfield Properties owns Zuccotti Park (which earned them a height bonus of their building at One Liberty Plaza) (a park formerly known as Liberty Square until renamed). Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the protesters Wednesday to offer assurances they would not be evicted. Bloomberg's girlfriend, Diana Taylor, is on Brookfield's board of directors, according to the property owner's website.

Original context: http://occupywallst.org/forum/brookfield-properties-owns-zuccotti-bloombergs-gir/

According to BBC: this is a tactic that has been used in the past to break up protests.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York says the police were standing around the outskirts of the protest and it may be that the authorities decided there were just too many people to be able to get them out in an orderly manner.

'Be warned'

Activists had sent an email to supporters on Thursday asking them to join the group at 06:00 EDT (10:00 GMT) on Friday to "defend the occupation from eviction".

They said on a Facebook page: "Be warned, this is a tactic that [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg has used to shut down protests in the past, and a tactic used recently in similar protests throughout Europe."

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“Start Quote

Both Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party feel a deep frustration and a distrust of the elite who make the rules. There is a common feeling that the system is unresponsive to the needs and wishes of the people”

Mark MardellBBC North America editor

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Representatives of Brookfield Propertiesdistributed its cleaning notice on Thursday. Some were escorted by police.

The park regulations existed before the protests began but have not been enforced.

They include a prohibition on lying down on the ground or on benches, using sleeping bags or tarps, or the storage of personal property.

New York City councillors joined protesters at a news conference on Thursday evening, calling the effort to move the protesters a "ruse" backed by Mr Bloomberg.

As protesters pre-emptively scrubbed the park on Thursday, some questioned the need to clean the space at all.

full story here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15300491