The homesteaders had expected the attack. They vowed to resist peacefully, but not
to make it easy for the police to evict them. By 2 A.M. they had barricaded access to the
street with debris usually found in abandoned lots throughout the Lower East Sideheaps
of furniture, old joists, dumpsters, and the overturned hulk of an abandoned
automobile. They boarded up windows. They welded entrances and doors to apartments
shut. They were playing for time, hoping their lawyers, Stanley Cohen and Jackie
Bukowski, would be able to obtain a stay on the eviction when court opened at 9 A.M ..