Occupy Wall Street: 3 Sex Attacks in New York, Police Fear Number of Incidents to be Higher
Reports of sexual attacks keep coming in from the Occupy movements around the country, with three crimes reported at New York’s Zuccotti Park, and police fear the number of incidents to be higher.
Demonstrators’ set up camps where they are sleeping and living in tents that have placed them in danger of crimes, such as burglary, assault, and sex abuse.
According to Fox News, Sgt. Ed Millins of the Sergeants Benevolent Association in New York shared there may be more crimes that have not been brought up for various reasons.
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“The concern would be the rapes and attacks that aren’t reported. We have no way of really knowing. If you have three or five crimes reported, you really don’t know if it’s eight or 10 that happened,” said Millins.
Accusations of sexual abuse were coming in since early October, with the latest one concerning Tonye Iketubosin, a 26-year-old volunteer at the Occupy Wall Street kitchen, who was arrested last week for sexually assaulting a woman in her tent.
The string of reports led to a “women’s only” tent to be set up at Zuccotti Park in efforts to offer women protection and deter attacks.
Local businesses have also complained of trouble in downtown Manhattan, with the New York Post reporting that protestors broke off a bathroom sink at Panini & Co and caused thousands of dollars in damages.
A statement was also released by the organizers of the Occupy Wall Street Movement, urging the attacks to stop and for the Occupy protestors to band together and “create an alternative to this culture of violence.”
There are around 500 people spending each night at the Manhattan park and despite winter approaching and weather conditions getting worse, the movement has made no indications it is planning to give up on its protest.
Unless more is done to counter the crimes and sexual attacks taking place, worries include the camp will continue to pose danger to people sleeping there.
