OWS Library: Thousands of Books Missing, Destroyed
Protesters say that despite police assurances, many of their belongings are missing after the NYC raid.
| Posted Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011, at 2:39 PM
Photograph by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images.
During this week's Bloomberg-ordered raid on Zuccotti Park that brought an end to the original Occupy Wall Street encampment, police and other city authorities took down tents, threw away food, and generally scrubbed the area clean. One casualty that left many protesters fuming: The OWS People's Library saw its collection of 5,000-odd books confiscated.
After the raid, Mayor Bloomberg's office tried to allay protesters' fears that the books had been destroyed by police, tweeting: "Property from #Zuccotti, incl #OWS library, safely stored @ 57th St Sanit Garage; can be picked up Weds."
In the grand scheme of things, no big deal. There’s only one problem: The library’s website said on Wednesday that between 2,000 and 4,000 books from the library are gone.
"So @MikeBloomberg you lied, so where is the #OWSLibrary? Because it's not at the Sanitation Garage," OWSLibrary tweeted. Protesters say that most of the books were destroyed or damaged, and that the People’s Library tent and shelves are also missing. Protesters included a list on their website of other missing items, including as many as five laptops, OWS's WiFi device, a few tables, some chairs, lights, custom OWS stamps, and the librarian's personal belongings.
