By Julie Shapiro and Ben Fractenberg
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — The police barricades that were meant to contain Occupy Wall Street protesters but wound up decimating the business of a Wall Street cafe were back up again Wednesday night — just hours after they were taken down.
The barriers lining Wall Street — which the owner of Milk Street Cafe said caused a 30 percent dip in his business and forced him to layoff 21 workers — were initially removed Wednesday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson had said that the decision about the barriers, which restricted pedestrian traffic on Wall Street, lay with Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
"The police commissioner makes an assessment based on public safety," he said as he ate at the struggling Milk Street Cafe.
"This was the assessment he made today…. We're going to be continually monitoring this and assessing it."
But a police officer at the scene Wednesday night said the NYPD began reassembling the barriers around 5 p.m. — just five hours after they were initially taken down.
On Thursday morning, most of the barricades were back in place. Sections in front of the Milk Street Cafe and Federal Hall were left barrier free.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser said the barriers went up because of a march that happened Wednesday night. He said they would be removed again.
"Taken down, people march in the streets, put up," said Bloomberg at an unconnected press event Thursday. "We'll try again."
"We were very upset when we saw the barricades go up again," said a manager at the Milk Street Cafe Thursday morning.
"People know not to come down here."
Marc Epstein, the owner of Milk Street Cafe, said Wednesday night that police assured him that the move was only temporary due to a march the protesters staged Wednesday on police headquarters.
"They're just up for the night, and they [NYPD] will take them down in the morning," he said. "I trust them [NYPD] completely with issues of safety and security. I trust the police."
But he said that the fact that the barricades rose again so quickly was cause for concern.
"I'm concerned that they needed to [put the barricades up]," he said.
The barricades line Wall Street, which is normally closed to vehicular traffic, with the exception of a crossing at Broad Street near the subway station and have become an increasing sore spot for business and residents of the area.
The move to take them down Wednesday came after State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver wrote a letter — signed by state Senator Daniel Squadron, Councilwoman Margaret Chin and Congressman Jerrold Nadler — on Monday asking the city "to remove the excessive number of barricades."
Before that, the NYPD had said that the barriers were necessary because the Wall Street protesters were unpredictable.
During one demonstration, a group of protesters stormed the barricades leading to a violent clash with police.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to an email for comment.
With Jill Colvin and Serena Solomon
