NEW YORK - Authorities in New York City on Friday postponed the cleanup of Manhattan plaza where anti-Wall Street protesters have been camped out for a month, prompting cheers from a crowd that had feared they would be evicted.
Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the owners of the private park, Brookfield Office Properties, had put off the cleaning. Supporters of the protesters had started streaming into the park early Friday, creating a crowd of up to 700 chanting people.
A confrontation between police and protesters, who had vowed to stay put through civil disobedience, had been feared. Boisterous cheers floated up at the postponement and protesters began discussing whether to make an immediate march to Wall Street, a few blocks away.
Brookfield believes it can work out an arrangement with the protesters that "will ensure the park remains clean, safe, available for public use," a statement from the deputy mayor said.
Brookfield, a real estate firm, had called the conditions at the park unsanitary and unsafe. It had planned to power-wash the plaza over 12 hours and allow the protesters back, but without the equipment they needed to sleep and camp there.
In a last-ditch bid to stay, protesters had mopped and picked up garbage.
The Occupy Wall Street protests have inspired similar demonstrations across the country and become an issue in the Republican presidential primary race. Protests are also planned Saturday in dozens of cities around the world.
The protesters' demands are wide-ranging, but they are united in blaming Wall Street and corporate interests for the economic pain they say all but the wealthiest Americans have endured since the financial meltdown.
The situation was tense near Colorado's state capitol early Friday, where hundreds of Occupy Denver protesters had been told to clear out or risk arrest.
Han Shan, 39, of New York, a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street, said it was clear to everyone that the cleaning plan in New York City had aimed to shut down the protest.
"There is a strong commitment to nonviolence, but I know people are going to vigorously resist eviction," he said.
The company's rules, which haven't been enforced, have been this all along: No tarps, no sleeping bags, no storing personal property on the ground. The park is privately owned but is required to be open to the public 24 hours per day.
The demand that protesters clear out set up a turning point in a movement that began Sept. 17 with a small group of activists and has swelled to include several thousand people at times, from many walks of life.
Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate, expressed concern over the city's actions as he inspected the park Thursday afternoon and listened to protesters' complaints.
"This has been a very peaceful movement by the people," he said. "I'm concerned about this new set of policies. At the very least, the city should slow down."
The protest has led sympathetic groups in other cities: Occupy Boston, Occupy Cincinnati, Occupy Houston, Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Philadelphia, Occupy Providence, Occupy Salt Lake and Occupy Seattle, among them.
Occupy Seattle protesters running a live video feed from their corporate power protest at Seattle's Westlake Park said police started making arrests Thursday. Police confirmed that 10 people were arrested. City law bans camping in parks.
