Earlier today, a New York judge entered an injunction allowing the Occupy Wall Street protestors to re-occupy Zucotti Park. (That injunction was later overturned. No doubt further appeals are likely, although I’m not optimistic about their chances.)
During the period in which the injunction against the police action was in force, some protestors attempted to re-enter the park. Despite the court order, the NYPD did not allow it.
See NYPD Assaults Man & Punches Woman in Face at OWS / Liberty Plaza for their reaction:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxR8VHFvsl8
There is law on the books, and there is law on the ground. I doubt any of the police will be reprimanded in any meaningful way; more likely they will be (privately) congratulated.
(I think in the long run, this is more likely to feed the OWS movement than to harm it. They may now have to shift tactics to something that doesn’t involve standing in the cold 24/7.)
The occupation has long outworn its usefulness. I think OWS should shift to a number of shorter, more intense actions and take advantage of modern communications so they can be distributed and harder to intercept. The idea is to stay on the screen without offering an easy target.