Protesters at Zuccotti Park were caught off guard this morning when firefighters confiscated a half dozen generators and the gasoline that was used to power them.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
OWS march on 5th
"We've been using generators for weeks, it was never an issue," one person at Occupy Wall Street said.
There were no arrests associated with the confiscation of the generators and fuel.
On his weekly radio show, Mayor Mike Bloomberg praised the protesters for cooperating with the firefighters, according to the New York Times City Room blog.
“You can’t complain when, notified about the safety hazard, the protesters voluntarily took their generators and cans and turned them in,” he said on his program on WOR-AM (710).
The materials were taken away by truck, the mayor said, adding that people would be able to collect them later, when they left the park.
Fire officials said the protesters were given receipts.
A Fire Department spokesman, James Long, said, “The concern is that conditions there are unsafe and there is a buildup of tent and debris and combustibles, and then there are generators and fuel containers spread throughout and in violation of fire codes and such.”
The mayor also said that for now, the tents that have gone up in the park in recent days would be allowed to stay.
Inside the park this morning protesters were suspicious of the motivations for confiscating the generators.
"Just went it gets cold, they take away our power? I'm sure that's just a coincidence," one protester wrote to me via text message.
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