NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Protest veterans had said for weeks the Occupy Wall Street movement needed to have a second act if it lost its hold on Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.
The question now is whether they were ready.
New York police evicted protesters from the park in the early hours of Tuesday, just two days shy of the occupation's two-month anniversary. Authorities said the field of tents and people had become a health and safety threat.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, a judge denied the protesters' bid for a temporary restraining order that would have let them return to the park and rebuild their tents.
The loss of the park will renew the argument about whether the Occupy movement was really about the physical taking of a prominent space or was a means to the larger end of starting a national conversation about economic and social issues.
"This has already been a success to the extent it's catalyzed a debate about equality in the country," said Michael Kazin, a professor of social movements at Georgetown University and co-editor of the magazine Dissent.
"It's forced many politicians in both parties and other public figures as well to take these issues seriously, which they were not before."
With physical space potentially unavailable, some ask whether the movement will become virtual on the Internet.
Social networks have been a lifeblood for the protests in New York and elsewhere in the United States and the world, keeping disparate groups connected and helping the leaderless occupations to coordinate actions.
Twitter was abuzz on Tuesday with calls for a worldwide day of action on Thursday.
"Even if this whole thing were shut down and stifled, this would not end," said John Reynolds, 25, a freelance information technology consultant who has been traveling to Occupy camps around the country. "We've made the connections."
KNEW IT WAS COMING
Around 10 p.m. on Monday, some three hours before the police raid, organizers sent a mass text message inviting people to come to training sessions on how to protect the park. It was not clear whether they knew for certain a raid was imminent but it shows they were at least making preparations.
They have had hints for weeks that the city's patience was running thin. Late last month, New York fire officials seized generators from the park, citing a fire hazard, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's frustration with the protesters has grown, as evidenced by his public comments lately.
On Monday, the Canadian organization that originated the idea for the Occupy movement and helped nurture it suggested occupiers think about giving up their land.
"(As) winter approaches an ominous mood could set in - hope thwarted is in danger of turning sour, patience exhausted becoming anger, militant nonviolence losing its allure," Adbusters said in a "tactical briefing" on its website.
It suggested one of two courses of action: hunker down for the winter or start to clean up and empty out the camps in favor of the next stage of the protest.
Some of the protesters who were displaced on Tuesday morning seem to be thinking of the latter course.
"It's not even a tangible thing anymore," said Kyle Depew, 26, a waiter from Brooklyn who has been in and out of the park for the last six weeks. "The seed's been planted in everyone's mind and that's what this is about."
The question now is whether the majority agrees with Depew or tries to take another plot of land somewhere.
Some have suggested Manhattan's Washington Square Park, others have called for the occupation of Foley Square in the downtown area. Kazin said most would likely use the raid as a reason to involve themselves in other activities.
But one expert on police tactics, while describing the raid as "flawless" and a perfect example of professionalism, said it was likely things would remain tense for the next few days.
"Things can get out of control," said Maki Haberfeld, who chairs the department of law and police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "There's only so much you can do in terms of unpredictable locations and at this moment it seems very unpredictable."
(Additional reporting by Clare Baldwin in New York; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
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