Occupy Wall Street protesters told New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday that he better return some books to the "people's library:" more than 3,000 volumes, in fact. Activists from the movement against economic unfairness told a press conference that their donated collection was destroyed by police and sanitation workers during the eviction on November 15 of a Manhattan protest camp.
Out of 4,000 volumes swept away, along with tents and the rest of the camp, only 1,275 were returned and of these only 839 are still in condition to be read, said Norman Siegel, a well-known civil rights lawyer speaking at the press conference. "The Bloomberg administration needs to replace every single book that is missing or damaged," Siegel said. "The Bloomberg administration must acknowledge that wrong was committed, and that this can never, never happen again in this city."
Siegel also called on the mayor to allow demonstrators to reassemble their library, even though they are not being allowed to return to their old camp site on Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan. "These folks need a space to recreate the people's library," he said.