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UPDATE: 10:15 pm EST

We spoke with an OWS organizer about the barricades being removed tonight from Zuccotti Park and here’s what he told us-

The barricades around Liberty Park were an edifying example of our modern day police state showing flagrant disregard for our constitutionally protected first amendment rights.

The fact that it took the city this long to defend the rights of the people of New York City is an embarrassment to Mayor Bloomberg.

This court victory shows, once again, that the 99% will not be silenced by the corrupted 1% who desperately clings to power. The people, united, will never be defeated! Whose park? Our park!

-DAVID DEGRAW, OWS Organizer

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The barricades surrounding Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park, which served as base camp for Occupy Wall Street protesters were removed Tuesday, allowing protesters back into the park.

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It was nothing but cheers Tuesday night as about 300 protesters began filling Zuccotti Park only a couple of hours after the barricades were taken down.

On Monday, advocates associated with the Occupy Movement sent a letter to the Department of Buildings saying that the barriers violated zoning rules that required the space to be open to the public around the clock.

The complaint said barricades surrounding the park since Nov. 15 interfered with the public’s use of it. The public park is privately owned and is required to be open 24 hours a day.

Security guards who were previously guarding the barricades stood off to the side, along with a handful of police officers.

Gideon Orion Oliver, the president of the New York City branch of the National Lawyers Guild, which helped write the letter to the DOB said:

“This is a step in the right direction — toward restoring Liberty Park to the people, it is also an acknowledgement that the City and Brookfield have been flouting the letter and spirit of the law and the Constitution.”

It’s good to see that the barricades were taken down and the protesters were allowed back inside the park. Many of them are planning to stay overnight, although it isn’t clear whether they can use tents or sleeping bags, which have been banned from Zuccotti Park since an early morning police raid evicted them on Nov. 15.