Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez led the protesters on an impromptu trek to Times Square. (Photo: Osvaldo Ribeiro Filho)

Seventh Avenue was occupied for about an hour this weekend. Holiday traffic stopped as several hundred Occupy Wall Street protesters ran through the streets on a spontaneous Saturday night march that saw them dodging cars and cops along a 2.6 mile route from the West Village to Times Square. It was just part of a busy day for the movement that included dozens of arrests, and culminated in the short, strange occupation of the porch of an office building in the Financial District and showed off all the strengths--and weaknesses of the Occupy movement.

Protests began at noon in Juan Pablo Duarte Square, a public park at the intersection of Canal Street and Sixth Avenue across the street from an expansive, vacant lot owned by an Episcopalian Church, Trinity Wall Street. Yesterday's protests were ostensibly held to persuade Trinity Church to allow occupiers to establish an encampment in the lot and to celebrate the third month of the movement. It was to be the beginning of "Occupation 2.0," a new phase for the movement following its eviction from its original home in Zuccotti Park on November 15.

At the protest, we saw protesters who have kept the occupation alive by staying in squats and shelters and politicians eager to see the movement affect city policy. However, by the end of the day, the efforts to establish a second encampment were successful and the movement's many believers and political supporters were still searching for a strategy to move forward.

At about 3:30 p.m., a group of 49 protesters scaled the chainlink fence surrounding the lot. They included Bishop George Packard and Reverend Earl Kooperkamp, pastor of St. Mary's Church in West Harlem. Police quickly swooped in and arrested the interlopers. While the scene inside the park was orderly, on the other side of the fence police officers swarmed the crowds gathered alongside and pushed them away from the lot. As the police pushed protesters down the block, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez shook the fence and chanted, "Shame! Shame! Shame!"

Councilman Rodriguez, who was arrested during the Zuccotti Park raid, arrived at Duarte Square at about half past noon Saturday.

Councilman Rodriguez told The Politicker he hoped the movement would stand against any attempt by City Hall to balance the budget by cutting social programs rather than raising taxes on the wealthy.

"This is the most important peaceful movement that we have seen in the last couple of decades," Councilman Rodriguez said. "I hope also that when, in February, Mayor Bloomberg comes to present his executive budget that will be based on a $2 billion deficit, that this movement will stand that same day letting Mayor Bloomberg know that we will not accept--that we will not balance a budget that has a deficit of $2 billion for the next fiscal year if that balance is based on cutting on the working class and the middle class."

Councilman Rodriguez was joined in Duarte Square by Councilman Jumaane Williams who was also arrested at Occupy Wall Street two days after the raid when he participated in an act of civil disobedience with 98 other protesters.

"I'm here to support like I have been supporting from the beginning. I think this is a powerful movement," Councilman Williams told The Politicker. "I think the message has been clear from the beginning there's economic disparities that are unacceptable in this city and this country and I think its up to people like myself my colleague Ydanis, our illustrious mayor and governor to take that message and turn it into policies."

For about an hour after the arrests in the lot, demonstrators remained in Duarte Square. We spotted many familiar faces from Zuccotti Park. Since the eviction, several of the protesters said they were squatting in foreclosed homes reclaimed by the movement and at churches in Newark and Park Slope that offer shelter to occupiers. A mohawked man told us he preferred the squats.

"I stay away from the churches," he said. "People there are getting scabies."

Shortly before 5 p.m., the protesters began marching out of Duarte Square. Councilman Rodriguez jogged up to the front of the crowd and helped carry a banner that waved over the marchers. An Occupy Wall Street organizer named Aaron Black led the way up Varick Street while communicating via cellphone with group members who manned the official Twitter and text message alert system that told protesters where to go. Mr. Black said the march was headed to Trinity Church Rector James Cooper's house in the West Village.

A column of police scooters buzzed past the march in an attempt to keep the protesters confined to the sidewalk. Protesters ran, at times at full speed, in an effort to prevent police from setting up a blockade. When the march arrived at Rector Cooper's block, Charlton Street, police had already sealed the street off with orange netting and a column of officers in riot gear.

Protesters began running through the streets. Slamming on the hoods of cars and screaming into the night they encircled the block twice before going North up 7th Avenue. One cartwheeled through an intersection. Gridlock reigned as the marchers migrated off the sidewalks en masse. It became clear the group didn't know where they were headed.

"We're going to the bank!" one shouted.

At the front of the column, Mr. Black talked with the other Occupy organizers. They wanted him to turn the march around to Zuccotti Park. Marchers jogging alongside Mr. Black advocated heading Times Square. Mr. Black wanted to stick with the originally planned destination--the lobby of an office building at 60 Wall Street that was to be the staging point for a "Plan B" action at an undisclosed second location codenamed, "Perseus." The Times Square faction got their way.

Police managed to set up a blockade at Seventh Avenue and 29th Street. Several marchers were grabbed by officers including a bicyclist who was thrown to the ground and cuffed by a trio of angry cops. Orange kettling nets were used to trap many of the protesters in a small pen including Councilman Rodriguez, his press secretary, David Segal, and The Politicker.

Police surrounded the nets and prevented protesters from leaving the area. Mr. Segal flashed his City Council ID and asked an officer to let Councilman Rodriguez leave.

"OK, City Council, get back and shut up. How about that?" the officer said shoving Mr. Segal away from the edge of the nets.

Councilman Rodriguez eventually managed to persuade other officers to let him out. The Politicker remained kettled in with several protesters and other reporters. Evenutally, without explanation, the police took down the barriers and allowed us to proceed up the block.

After their brush with the nets, the marchers resolved to remain on the sidewalks until they reached Times Square. When they arrived, several police officers on horseback were waiting for them.

As the protesters surged into the streets of Times Square, the officers rounded them up and pulled several onto police wagons. The cops quickly managed to push protesters back onto the sidewalks where they reconvened to hold an impromptu rally on the small pedestrian plaza in the heart of the square.

According to texts and tweets, the "Plan B" operation at "Perseus" was still in effect, so we hopped on a train downtown to check out the scene at 60 Wall Street. It was bitter cold. Councilman Rodriguez pulled his hood over his head to keep warm. Mr. Black said they would stay until about 100 people arrived before departing for the, still undisclosed, second location.

After about an hour, the group had swelled to sufficient size and Mr. Black began leading them toward "Perseus." No one in the crowd knew where they were going, only that this would be the site of a new occupation. Many carried tents.

Shortly after 10 p..m., Mr. Black stopped at a freezing concrete porch in front of One New York Plaza. He explained that the building's regulations made it uniquely suited for an occupation.

"This is privately owned public space, it's open 24 hours a day," Mr. Black said to the crowd. "We can stay here."

Many of the marchers were dismayed. Signs on the door showed the space was owned by Brookfield Properties, the same property management group that held the deed to Zuccotti Park and asked for the police to evict the encampment. Like, Zuccotti Park, One New York Plaza permits "passive recreation." Camping and lying down are prohibited. Some of the aspiring occupiers left, eager to avoid the bitter cold and fighting the same battle they lost in Zuccotti Park. Others got into the spirit.

"Let's passively recreate!" one man shouted.

As the crowd of protesters at One New York Plaza dwindled, their attempted occupation of the plaza became a perfect metaphor for the issues facing the Occupy Wall Street movement as it enters its third month. Clearly, hundreds of people are willing to give many hours of their time risking arrest and bad weather to protest, however when they show up, the mission isn't entirely clear.

Councilman Rodriguez stood by and watched. He was soon joined by Councilman Williams. The politicians observed as a staffer from the building came down and asked the crowd to leave.

"Building management does not want you here, you can't be here," the man said.

Councilman Rodriguez urged the protesters to wait until they received an order to leave in writing, but he didn't stick around to see the end result.

"I would stay, but I have to get to my daughters, Councilman Rodriguez said. He had been with the protesters for nearly 12 hours.

Eventually, The Politicker, Councilman Williams and the remaining protesters left too. As the night ended, the future of the movement still remained--both literally and figuratively--unclear.

Bishop Mark Sisk (Photo: Episcopal Diocese of New York)

As Occupy Wall Street protesters prepare to hold a rally tomorrow to fight for the right to set up shop in a vacant lot owned by Trinity Church, a pair of top Episcopalian bishops issued statements today urging the occupiers to make peace with the house of worship.

"Alarmingly, some clergy and protesters have attempted to 'take' or 'liberate' the space without Trinity's consent, and have clearly indicated their intent to engage in other attempts to do so in the coming days," said Mark Sisk, the Episcopal Church's Bishop of New York. "The movement should not be used to justify breaking the law, nor is it necessary to break into property for the movement to continue. Together, let us pray for peaceful articulation, in word and deed, of the issues of justice and fairness that have brought the Occupy movement into the national conversation."

Trinity Wall Street, which owns Trinity Church, is one of the largest landowners in Manhattan with six million square feet of property descended from a grant given to the Episcopalian church by the Queen of England in 1705. In the past, Trinity Church has permitted the protesters to use another location they own near Ground Zero for meeting space, wi fi and power outlets, but it has opposed allowing the occupation of the Canal Street lot, which is known as Duarte Park. Earlier this month, the church sent The Observer a statement that said Duarte Park isn't fit for an occupation because it isn't "suitable for large-scale assemblies" and is "licensed to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for interim outdoor art exhibits which will resume in the spring."

In his statement today, Bishop Sisk referenced Trinity Church's past generosity toward the protesters and characterized the call to allow the occupation of the Canal Street lot as unreasonable.

"Trinity has clearly shown its support for the wider goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and has aided protesters directly through pastoral care and extensive use of parish facilities. They have said 'yes' to requests for meeting space, bathroom facilities, private conference rooms, housing referrals, and pastoral care, and continue to look for ways to provide direct support to those who identify with the movement in Lower Manhattan," Bishop Sisk said. "Providing private land without facilities for indeterminate usage, however, poses significant health and safety concerns, and is beyond the scope of Trinity's mission. To this, the parish has reasonably said, 'no.'"

Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, also released a statement about the Occupy protests along with Bishop Sisk's remarks.

"The Trinity congregation has decided that the property known as Duarte Park is not appropriate for use by the Occupy movement, and that property remains closed. Other facilities of Trinity continue to be open to support the Occupy movement, for which I give great thanks," Bishop Schori said. "It is regrettable that Occupy members feel it necessary to provoke potential legal and police action by attempting to trespass on other parish property. Seekers after justice have more often achieved success through non-violent action, rather than acts of force or arms. I would urge all concerned to stand down and seek justice in ways that do not further alienate potential allies."

Bishop Schori's statement subsequently disappeared from the church's website. Occupy Wall Street's Duarte Park rally starts tomorrow at noon.

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A poster for Saturday's planned Occupy Wall Street rally. (Photo: OccupyWallSt.org)

After a series of evictions at their encampments around the country, Occupy Wall Street protesters want the next phase of their movement to begin in a vacant lot on Canal Street and Sixth Avenue that's owned by Trinity Church, but the church won't let them use the space. On Saturday, the demonstrators plan to mark the three month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street with a rally. According to a press release sent out by the Occupy Wall Street media team, Saturday's event is designed as "part of a call to re-occupy in the wake of the coordinated attacks and subsequent evictions of occupations" and an effort to "urge Trinity Church to do the right thing."

Occupy Wall Street has struggled to evolve since NYPD officers evicted the protesters from their original home in Zuccotti Park on November 15. Two days later, the occupiers protested the raid with a massive march across the Brooklyn Bridge, but since then, the movement has seemingly lost steam in New York as the number of large scale protest actions here dwindled and Occupy encampments in other cities were raided including Boston, Los Angeles and Portland.

Protesters have had their eyes on Trinity's lot ever since their eviction from Zuccotti Park. Occupiers asked Trinity to let them use the space the morning after the police raid and, earlier this month, attempted to convince the church to let them use the space with a hunger strike. Trinity Wall Street has allowed the protesters to use another space they own near Ground Zero for meeting space, wi fi and power outlets, but the church has opposed allowing the occupiers in the Canal Street lot. When the hunger strike began, Trinity Wall Street sent a statement to the Observer affirming their support for "the vigorous engagement of the issues which Occupy Wall Street has raised" and explaining their objections to letting protesters Occupy the lot.

"Trinity’s position has been consistent and clear. Trinity has provided meeting and gathering spaces as well as a tranquil place at church facilities in and around Wall Street. Thousands of protesters use these facilities every week," the statement said. "However, the enclosed lot at Duarte Square is not available nor is it suitable for large-scale assemblies or encampments. It has no facilities and is licensed to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council for interim outdoor art exhibits which will resume in the spring."

Trinity Wall Street is one of the largest landowners in Manhattan with six million square feet of property descended from a grant given to the Episcopalian church by the Queen of England in 1705. Occupy Wall Street claims to have support of "1,400 faith leaders, elders of the civil rights movement, prominent artists and community members" for Saturday's event.

George E. Packard, an Occupy Wall Street supporter and retired Episcopal Bishop to the Armed Forces and Chaplaincies, posted a note on the Trinity Wall Street Facebook page last week warning the church against resisting the protesters.

"I have this great worry that this venerable parish will be on the wrong side of history," Bishop Packard wrote. "If we really saw OWS for who they are rather than putting up roadblocks in their path we'd truly delight in their coming!"

According to the press release, Occupy Wall Street's "Occupation 2.0" rally on Saturday will include speakers, live music and other performances stretching from noon into the evening.