A judge backed up Mayor Bloomberg’s clean sweep of Zuccotti Park Tuesday, ruling that the city has the right to keep Occupy Wall Street protestors from camping out in what’s supposed to be a 24-hour open space for all of the public. The ruling from the bench by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman will likely be appealed so it’s not yet clear whether the city will reopen the park and allow in protestors – without tents.

New York Judge Michael Stallman has overturned the temporary restraining order that had ordered the reopening of Zuccotti Park issued earlier this morning after Michael Bloomberg's late night raid on the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

After riot police cleared the park in the early morning hours, Justice Lucy Billings issued the TRO ordering the park to be reopened, an order that Bloomberg chose to ignore. Add to that Bloomberg's assault on the First Amendment while turning New York into Cairo on the Hudson, and he's had a hell of a law-breaking day.

We'll update with developments as they occur.



Read the judge's decision here (pdf).