Occupy Wall Street Camp Broken Up by Police in NYC, 5,000 Books Thrown Out

Posted on November 15, 2011

A judge upheld the dismantling of the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park in New York City. The L.A. Times reports that 5,000 books were thrown out when the protest was disrupted. A lending library has been part of the protest camp since its inception. National Book Award winner Patti Smith donated a tent to house the library. But that's all gone now. Authors such as Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan and Douglas Rushkoff have done readings at the protest site.

Time magazine reports "Perhaps most tragically, Occupy Wall Street's roughly 5,000-volume library, compiled through myriad donations and painstakingly cataloged by volunteers, was reportedly thrown out." The volunteer librarians of the People's Library (as it has been named) are demanding to know where the books are, and if they have been destroyed. The city has said that belongings can be reclaimed later, but other reports say the books were hauled away in dump trucks, never to be seen again.