After more than four months, OWS protesters in Washington DC's McPherson's Square and Freedom Plaza got eviction notices slapped on their tents and encampments this afternoon.
National Park Police calmly issued the eviction notices to protesters. Some of the protesters argued with police, complained about the mortgage crisis and their foreclosed homes. The tents set up in OWS camps represent middle class America and the foreclosure crisis.
The Park Police, despite several antagonizing protesters, didn't engage or make eye contact with protesters.
Other protesters didn't antagonize or harass the police department. A good number of OWS DC protesters feel police have been on the movement's side since the Occupy Wall Street protests began in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza.
Unlike other major cities, DC Park Police are acutely aware they're on film and are avoiding hostile engagements with protesters at all cost. "Show me what a Police State Looks Like!" didn't move DC cops. After twenty minutes of arguing and antagonizing protesters in their face, police largely refused to respond or interact with protesters.
The protesters who were angry with the police declared it was their constitutional right to peacefully assemble and utilize their freedom of speech. No matter what the protesters said, good, bad, negative, or ugly, the Park Police remained disengaged. Instead, Park Police focused on their mission to issue eviction notices.
The eviction notices require all camps, tents, sleeping bags, personal paraphernalia and encampments removed from the plaza January 30, 2012. Any personal belongings used for sleeping and must be removed on Monday.
The Occupy DC movement has two big army tents set up. OWS has permits for those two army sized community tents. Those permits are said to expire at the end of February 2012. It's expected the camping protesters will utilize the legal OWS camps after Monday.
Many of the protesters who are occupying DC right now aren't Washington DC natives or residents of the DMV. They're protesters who have traveled from other states, some as far away as Florida. They chose the OWS site in DC because of its proximity to Congress. They believed Washington DC was a good site to occupy and take issue to the U.S. Senate because the majority of their grievances are directed at Congress.
But with the eviction notices slapped on tents throughout the park, protesters fear the legal action is a diversionary tactic to reroute protesters' focus away from their original goals of protesting corporate greed, corporate tax cuts and a shrinking middle class.
Because a good number of the OWS DC protesters are transient visitors who chose to protest in DC, the eviction notices pose a serious housing dilemma for many of the protesters. The number one worry of protesters who weren't interested in combative exchange with Park Police was their lodging.
If the tents can't stay then where will the protesters sleep? Keep their personal belongings?
Most of the protesters will likely convene under the two large community tents that are legally set up and have permits.
News channels, however, will watch the OWS DC sites on January 30 because typically the violent clashes between police and protesters aren't the results of people protesting. The clashes with police have often been response to civil disobedience, like what happened at UC-Davis when a campus police officer pepper sprayed student protesters at point blank range.
Occupy Wall Street New York took its last stand against police when they were evicted from Zucotti Park. After the eviction notice, protesters surged police barricades and retook Zucotti Park.
OWS DC protesters say this isn't the first time police have come through and issued orders that they disperse and remove their tents and sleeping bags. Protesters say the police always give them three days, but rarely follow through with the order to evacuate.
Today, DC weather is windy without the typical mid-winter February freeze. Some of the protesters are shirtless. It's above 60 degrees in DC and OWS DC protesters were sealed in their tents this morning after drenching rains soaked their camps, tents and the ground under which their tents are set up. Part of the eviction notice asks protesters not to seal their tents close.
Over the months, the OWS DC protesters have had a sense of humor. They've decorated a Christmas tree using police tape as garland.
Only Monday will tell if the protesters will concede their encampments, yet continue their protests.
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Comments
#1 correcton* OWS were not issued "eviction notices"
"the eviction notices require all camps, tents, sleeping bags, personal paraphernalia and encampments removed from the plaza January 30, 2012" - this is incorrect. The tents, as I read in the notice, as well as from speaking to the Park Rangers who help clean the park, will stay. However, they must remain open at all times and cannot be used for sleeping. The issue is that the tents are a form of protest, as long as they are not used for camping - for this reason alone, they will remain. Also, the OWS'ers will still be allowed to remain on the grounds to do basically what they have been doing the last several months - with the exception being "camping".