Sad news for hundreds of children in New York City. Trinity Wall Street has cancelled its annual Halloween fright fest because church officials fear that Occupy Wall Street protesters threaten to disrupt the event.The New York Daily News reported this week:
Occupy Wall Street has played a trick and taken the treat out of Halloween at Trinity Church this year.
The venerable church at the top of Wall St. has pulled the plug on its annual frightfest and is blaming it on “escalating illegal and abusive activity” by the protesters camped outside on Broadway.
“This decision was made out of an abundance of caution as we continue to face safety issues arising from the sidewalk camp in front of Trinity Church,” the Rev. James Cooper said in a note to to his flock.
Cooper said he made the move after the “maintenance superintendent at Trinity was the victim of an assault as he was attempting to perform the morning cleaning of the sidewalk areas affected by the camp.”
The janitor was blasted in the ear with an air horn by one of the protesters, a church official said.
Police quickly arrested the suspect and a report was filed, but the protester was let out the same day and continues to camp outside Trinity, the official said.
Read full story here and an editorial in today’s Daily News. Also, pictures from last year’s fright fest are posted here, along with Cooper’s announcement regarding the cancellation.