Wall St. Occupiers Kill Jobs at Neighborhood Cafe

A café in lower Manhattan was forced to lay off 21 of its 100 employees because business tanked amid the Occupy Wall Street protests.

The anti-corporate protests, now more than a month old, apparently killed business at Milk Street Cafe, reports the New York Post.

“I support their freedom of speech, but the whole thing is hypocritical if it makes people lose their jobs,” fired restaurant worker Shamil Cepeda tearfully told the Post. “Isn’t that the whole point of protest?”

Cepeda, who supported the protesters initially, now fumes at them — and also offers some advice: “If they would just go get a real job, helping real people, that would help a lot more than just taking up space and shouting at people and putting others they claim to care for out of work.”

Milk Street owner Marc Epstein, said: “The food industry does not have anybody in the 1 percent, workers or owners. I’m saying to [protesters], understand the consequences of your actions. As a result of you guys making these decisions, a small business that just invested in your city is threatened, as well as all of the jobs here.”