Spirit of civil rights occupies Wall St

A sign beside the 56-year-old proudly tallies up her achievements: 18 hats, 16 scarves, seven mitts, one pair of socks and 14 days.

As the weather begins to turn and the nights become chillier, protesters sleeping rough yards from where some of New York’s wealthiest employees work will be thankful for her endeavours.

The likelihood of them staying was strengthened yesterday after landowners shelved plans to enforce a clean-up of the site.

The eleventh-hour decision, prompted by pressure from city officials, averted a stand-off between police and activists, many of whom feared they would be blocked from returning to the camp.

News of the climbdown by the owners of Zuccotti Park in Manhattan’s financial district was greeted by cheers at the site.

It was a different scene in Denver, where riot police clashed with protestors during an eviction at Colorado’s state capitol. Around two dozen anti-capitalists were arrested with others dragged from their tents.

Prior to yesterday’s deadline in New York, protesters armed with mops and environmentally-friendly detergent did their best to convince authorities that they were doing all they can to keep the place tidy.

With its own sanitary department, the camp has become a micro-society, with its own newspaper – the Occupied Wall Street Journal.

An on-site canteen feeds hungry protesters, while a medical centre tends to those suffering the effects of up to a month sleeping rough.

Sam Wood joined the protest on its first day, 17 September, and is determined to see it through to its conclusion.

“It’s been something like 26 days, I lost track after day seven. I’m absolutely going to be here until the end. I will go down on this ship,” the unemployed 21-year-old said.

“I’m here because rich people control everything – that’s not too cool.”

The protest consists of a diverse collection of grievances, with anti-capitalists mixing with environmentalists and tax reformers.

One activist explained: “If you ask 100 different people here, you’d get 100 different causes.”

However, the umbrella protest has caught the imagination of a country still suffering the effects of a recession many blame on the Wall Street bankers who brush past the camp every day.

Demonstrations have sprung up in cities including Washington DC, Boston and Denver.

Behind her knitting needles, Ms Spencer dismisses the idea the movement could become a counter to the Tea Party, the faction which holds sway over the Republicans.

“It isn’t a party,” she said, adding: “It is the beginning of a lot of different groups – some want an end to war, some want to abolish the death penalty, some want to change the tax system.”

The unemployed New Yorker joined the demonstration in reaction to what she described as the increasing wealth divide in the US.

“It is every American’s right to protest and our duty to change things if they are wrong. I have five grandchildren, I want things to be better for them,” she said.

Suffering from arthritis, diabetes and high blood-pressure, Ms Spencer spends her nights at home, but visits the camp every day to add her voice.

“It has been peaceful, joyful and educational. This is the most rewarding thing I have ever done,” she explained.

The 56-year-old said she believed the anti-Wall Street protest had the staying power of the civil rights movement.

“The Montgomery [Alabama] bus boycott went on for 381 days [in 1955 and 1956] and if things don’t change I can see people staying here that long. Three weeks is nothing, it is just a start,” she said, adding: “I am going to stay until I am the last one here.”

However, not everyone is happy about the presence of the camp.

Stacey Tzortzatos owner of Panini & Co, a café that sits on the edge of Zuccotti Park, longs for the protestors to move on.

She said: “It is a huge disaster. They come in to use the bathroom, they make a huge mess, they refuse to leave, they use the plug sockets and they sleep here.

“They have the right to protest, but I’m a small business, I’m no conglomerate and I’m not a billionaire.”