Judge Rules Against Zuccotti Park Protesters

A New York judge has upheld the city's dismantling of the Occupy Wall Street encampment, saying that the protesters' First Amendment rights don't entitle them to camp out indefinitely in the plaza. Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman today denied a motion by the demonstrators seeking to be allowed back into the park with their tents and sleeping bags.

Police cleared out the protesters in a nighttime sweep. The judge upheld the city's eviction after an emergency appeal by the National Lawyers Guild. The protesters had been camped out in privately owned Zuccotti Park since mid-September. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he ordered the sweep because health and safety conditions had become "intolerable" in the crowded plaza. (More Occupy Wall Street stories.)