cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com

Just to the west of the square was a fenced-off, padlocked lot owned by Trinity Church, a giant landowner downtown that has been supportive of the protesters at times.

The protesters had their eye on the church’s lot. In mid-morning, a delegation of protesters said they were trying to obtain permission from church officials to occupy the lot.

It was not clear how that negotiation went, but at 11 a.m., two protesters dressed in black, wearing black bandannas over the lower part of their faces, used bolt cutters to snip through the chain-link fence and the crowd began streaming in.