Wall Street Journal Looks at #OWS

With a few exceptions, most of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations haven't had much impact on commuters or the basic functioning of New York City beyond a few relatively small areas, like Wall Street and Zuccotti Park.
The park was barricaded Wednesday, with police and private security guards manning checkpoints to keep protesters from re-establishing the camp that was dismantled early Tuesday in a surprise police raid.
A few demonstrators gathered inside, but most of the construction workers and office workers who used to frequent the park stayed away. Many protesters were elsewhere, too, recovering after the drama and confusion that followed their eviction from the park.

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Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency

A woman makes a sign near the park where protests had been based.

Some volunteers were working to help the movement regroup. Bill Mills, a 20-year-old from New Jersey, was at the United Federation of Teachers space where Occupy Wall Street has been storing its cache of donated supplies. He fielded requests from protesters who came looking for gear such as pants, umbrellas and food.
He said he thinks the sweep of Zuccotti Park will make the protests stronger by stripping away the people who came only for fun and free food, not activism.
" Michael Bloomberg is my hero," Mr. Mills said. "He catapulted us out of all this lethargy. He threw out all the drunks, all the hypocrites, all the liars, all the people who were here for a little bit of fun, and brought us down to the people who are smart enough to get things done and really have something invested in this."
—Alison Fox, Sean Gardiner
and Sophia Hollander contributed to this article. [excerpt]