Occupy sleeping on Wall Street

For the third night, Occupy beds down on the street at Broad and Wall Street.

Having been evicted and prevented from sleeping in the various parks, OWS has taken to sleeping on the sidewalk.  Numbers have varied between 15 and 30 people.

The first night, they slept on cardboard. Tonight they have moved in furniture, including chairs and a futon.

One might wonder, why they are allowed to sleep on the street?

While there is case law, most notably Metro Council vs. Safir, which allows sleeping as part of an organized, limited protest, if said protest is disorganized, not limited in space, or likely to cause disruption to the public or public sidewalk, it may not fall within a legally permissible range.

There appeared very little “protest”, apart from some signs on sidewalk, but a lot of disorganization and fair amount of items strewn over a significant part of  the sidewalk.

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