E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
An Occupy protester sits at the McPherson Square Occupy encampment in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2012.
Occupy protesters chanting "let us sleep so we can dream" set up a large, blue tarp with the words "tent of dreams" in the nation's capital as a noon deadline to end camping at some of the movement's last remaining large encampments passed.
The National Park Service said in a flier released Friday that it would begin enforcing regulations prohibiting camping and the use of temporary structures for camping at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza. Individual violators may be subject to arrest and their property subject to seizure as evidence, the flier said.
Washington Post live-blogs Occupy D.C.
Justin Jacoby Smith, a 25-year-old activist with OccupyKSt and member of their media team, said the protesters at McPherson Square had plans for the deadline but noted: “We’re still sorting of keeping the specifics under wraps … we like to have surprises when we can.”
Still, by noon the blue tarp, also decorated with the words "dream together" and yellow stars and a moon, could be seen in the square via a video livestream. "This is what democracy looks like," protesters chanted.
“Today what we’re trying to do is make sure that everyone knows that when you enforce a regulation against sleeping then you can’t dream of a better world, either … when you can’t sleep, you can’t dream," he said. "We’re going to make sure that we still have the opportunity to dream and that the people in this demonstration that have no place else to go are kept safe from the criminalization of homelessness that this order effectively creates.”
Officers would be on site to monitor the situation and try to get protesters to comply, Carol Johnson, a Park Service spokeswoman, told msnbc.com on Friday. Compliance entails removing all camping materials and leaving one side of all temporary structures open.
“People can be there 24 hours a day, but they can’t live there, they can’t sleep there,” she said.
“We still do back the First Amendment, and it is their right. It is not their right to camp. And ... we would, you know, support them if they came into compliance and they had a vigil and they had tents that were there for logistical or symbolic purposes,” she added. "They can occupy as a vigil but not camping."
More than 80 arrests have occurred at the two sites, including for public urination, drunkenness, assault and drug use, she noted.
On Sunday, a protester at one of the camps -- in McPherson Square -- was Tasered and arrested following a confrontation with law enforcement, according to NBCWashington.com. A video of the incident, posted on YouTube, shows the man yelling at officers, "We all know you're coming tomorrow."
Many of the Occupy camps were closed across the country last fall and early winter, and the sites in the nation's capital were two of the bigger outfits remaining.
The Park Service noted that two "compliant" 24-hour First Amendment vigils have been running in Lafayette Park and near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial since the early 1980s. Johnson said they were "very small" vigils and also noted that they were not evicting the Occupy protesters.
But the McPherson Square camp said it was a de facto eviction: "Rather than own up to the fact that they're evicting us, the 'camping ban' allows NPS to pick us off one by one. Death by attrition," read a tweet from the OccupyKSt twitter account.
The action by the Park Service also comes after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Subcommittee held a hearing last week about the McPherson Square encampment.
"Late is better than never," Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the subcommittee on the District of Columbia, said in a statement after learning of park authorities' notice. "I continue to wonder whether others who are 'camping' in national parks would have been afforded a 100-day grace period before the law was enforced."
Occupy groups across the country continue to assemble and organize protests, with about 400 demonstrators in Oakland arrested late Saturday after authorities thwarted their attempt to take over a vacant convention center for a new camp site. Some protesters broke into City Hall and smashed glass display cases and burned the U.S. and California flags, while others ran into a YMCA to evade police.
At least three officers and one protester were injured. Mayor Jean Quan said the cost to the city related to the Occupy Oakland protests is about $5 million.
Related stories:
Leave a Comment:
If not for MSDNC every now and then writing about these freeloaders, I think we would all forget about them since they are so irrelevant...
I know I had...
Aloha, Mr. Hand. Looks like I'll be back in class on Tuesday, man.
All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine.
The occupy protestors are american heroes and should be treated as such.
lol......
John.. can you expand on that profound statement a little bit.
Exactly HOW are they hero's?
Complaining about the idiocy of the loans they took out to go to college for Advanced Finger Painting?
Complaining about the lack of American jobs? Of course all the while wearing and using nothing but imported products.
Complaining about the "rich" having something they want? Maybe if they work, they'll also be able to get that money.
Please, tell me exactly what it is they're Protesting and exactly what makes them "hero's"?
hahahaha John-838569, c'mon man, really? LOL!
The Quote of the Decade:
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising
America 's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign
that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we
now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to
finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that, "the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the
burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and
grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.
Americans deserve better.”
...........and the person who said it back in 2006 was:
Senator Barack H. Obama, March 2006
John so you believe people that break the law and destroy both public and private property and desecrate churches are heroes? you my friend are a pathetic loser along with them.
bang bang see what they did to oakland
Bathe you filthy Democrats !
Ooohh that smell, can you smell that smell
If they're the 99%...where's the rest of 'em? And tell me again, what are they protesting?
They don't even know. It's a gathering of stupid people doing drugs and partying occasionally taking shots at the successful.
They represent about .0005% of who they deem as the 99%.
So they really don't represent anyone...
And good luck on trying to get an answer to what they are protesting about, other than just looking for government to take care of them...
Time to crack some hippie skulls. Grow a pair DC!
It's always tougher to be right during an election cycle.
You want to occupy.......then clean up after yourselves. Garbage goes in the can........NOT on the ground. These people do not represent the 99%, but the 1% of the 99 that think the world owes them something. And it is NOT THE OBLIGATION of the states where occupy has occurred to give you a place to sleep. GO HOME. BE PRODUCTIVE. If you don't like the politicians in office.....VOTE, if you don't like being unemployed, FIND A JOB, and if you don't like it here.....LEAVE....
Yeah! The Tea Party paid for their permits and cleaned up the areas they held their meeting at. Then they went back to work on Monday!
Fire...Something else you never heard or read about with the Tea Partisans protest...
Arrest, rapes, drugs, vandalism or having to access the damage afterwards...
Great point, and of course the lame stream media wont mention that, only focusing on the one alleged racial slur hurled at a govt employee, which turned out to be 100% false. Nor will the LSM talk about the hypocrisy of the groups supporters which include:
Communist Party USA-Sources:Communist Party USA, OWS speech, The Daily Caller
American Nazi Party-Sources:Media Matters, American Nazi Party, White Honor, Sunshine State News
The government of North Korea- Sources:Korean Central News Agency (North Korean state-controlled news outlet), The Marxist-Leninist, Wall Street Journal, Times of India
Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam-Sources:video statement (starting at 8:28), Black in America, Weasel Zippers, Philadelphia Weekly
Revolutionary Communist Party-Sources:Revolutionary Communist Party, Revolution newspaper, in-person appearance
and on and on...
Yeah but it's easier to throw garbage on the ground. It's an easier target to hit, and we all know these lazy idiots want everything to be as easy as possible without WORKING for anything. Except maybe their $80,000 degree in advanced studies of fairy wing patterns.
THE FENCE
You can't get any more accurate than this!
Which side of the fence?
If you ever wondered which side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!
If a Republican doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a Democrat doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.
If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A Democrat wonders who is going to take care of him.
If a Republican doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Democrat's demand that those they don't like be shut down.
If a Republican is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A Democrat non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.
If a Republican decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A Democrat demands that the rest of us pay for his.
If a Republican reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A Democrat will delete it because he's "offended".
Well, I forwarded it.
I forwarded this to all my liberal friends, mostly for the laugh...
Could not have stated that better...
Washington DC is where the OWS people need to stay, because only there can anything be changed for the better.
Concerned Veteran...
As another vet, I also have no problem with protests. That's one of the "freedoms" you, me and the multitude of other veterans put on the Uniforms to protect.
I DO have a problem with protesters who believe they have the "right" to commandeer what is not theirs, or to damage or destroy public property (as in Oakland).
If they "protest", do it within the bounds of the law and prevailing rules. Don't try to make your own and then complain when others don't like your version of rules.
XD
Viet Nam 1970
There is a right way and a wrong way to do things, doing them the wrong way never seems to accomplish much.
Obama's Worthless Scum are nothing short of spoiled anarchists. I don't understand the catch and release tactics of the police. Oakland already let out the ones they caught after 1 night in jail. Who pays bail? what type of charges are filed? A month in jail would probably get through to them more than 1 night. $1000 fines would send a message too. not catch and release.
Can you imagine this crowd going a month without bong hits or cell phones?
Once the girls and drugs are gone, the protest will be over.
The drugs maybe, but the girls? I don't think that will make them leave, most of them are paragons of diversity and likely will not leave their friends behind. (Pun intended)
After a week without a shower, the girls arent much of an incentive.
these people DO represent the 99%; 99% of the loser left-wing moron set that is
Actually they remind me of the crowds that used to follow the "Grateful Dead."
Less peaceful than deadheads. More filled with hate and envy and lazyness. There are jobs to be had if someone wants one. Problem is the work is difficult and these soft kids don't seem inclined to do hard work.
Don't disparage the Grateful Dead like that!!
I only saw the dead once. There was none of the hate you see here. I miss those times.
It is amazing the amount of people here that are AGAINST the
occupy protestors! Check your history people. NOTHING was accomplished in this
country without a fight. Why shouldn’t you or any other person in the country
be allowed to sleep where they want? I
have a home but if my taxes allow someone to sleep in a damn park, then so be
it! That is much better than sending politicians kids to the best schools, and
buying them 4 houses! TAXES pay for all
this crap. It’s supposed to be ours to
use within reason. (no pissing on the lawn please) And the way I see it sleeping on it is not a
big deal. The real issue is why aren’t there any politicians out there daily,
finding out what they want? Isn’t that WHY they are in office? Corporate American
can whine all the way to capitol hill and get a law passed, in a month. Or are they in office to line their own rich
pockets? What I see is the 1% is using
ignorant laws and ordinances to silence this group. Protesting is what we have people. Voting doesn’t
always work. The politicians own that system, and it can’t always be trusted. (Florida
election 2000) Just my 2 cents.
It's amazing that 70% of America is against a group that claims it is 99% of America.
so now that you've spent your 2 cents, you're penniless right?
this is the idiotic logic of the lunatic left. here it goes; nothing is accomplished without a fight so that means THIS FIGHT by THESE left-wing anarchists and losers hast to somehow be justified. cuz the ends justifies the means you know; cuz they are fighting in our names you know, cuz they only riot and burn and battle the police for whats good and just ya know, cuz they dont want anything for themselves, just for others ya know, and cuz they could never be useful idiot snad dupes themselves ya know...............
How about you people "Occupy" Monster.com and get a job.. Oh, I forgot it is easier to steal from the 1% rather than work to become one.
I thought they gave up months ago... Seems like MSNBC is the only source that determines this to be news anymore.. Kinda tells ya something.
The Soros media won't let it die.
The thing that stops this crowd from working is drug tests.
Nope! When they go to meet a prospective employer they reach out their hand "Palm Up" not side ways !
What will be the DNC's next move and will the White House have more say in which tactics to use next.
Let's see? The Bag Crappers get a bath, hot food, and sanitation. The taxpayers get lice infested tents, used needles, and well used 14 year old runaways.
This is not the first camp out protest in Washington D.C. However the first in 1932 had a clear objective.
The Bonus Army in 1932
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Bonus_Army
During President Hoovers term Veterans protested, the way hoover handled the protest is in part what gave President Roosevelt his winning the election.
Congress promised to pay the Bonus Party, then went back on their promise a few years later. The Bonus Party was dispersed. A few died, over 1000 injured.
You are trying to compare these idiot's to patriots??
That's a wild stretch even for an anti-American progressive!!!!
Time for the USA to enact strict birth control laws. No one should be allowed to have children without the proven ability to support them without governmnet aid. Forced abortions and sterilization for those that insist on having babies they cannot afford. We have paid people to be poor via welfare for too long. When you pay people to be poor, all you get are more and more poor. Jobs will continue to shrink in the USA, and population needs to shrink also. Eliminate the poor, and other things solves themselves. The poor are the problem, not the rich and middle class. Getting population growth of the poor and needy under control should be the number one priority in the USA. This is common sense.
I'm all for people to quit free-loading and living off my dime.. but this is a little extreme duncha-thunk?
That would certainly help but sounds like something out of those anti communist novels anne ryand? did. We need regulation that doesn't lay ground for restricting our freedom. We have the technology to itemize, catalog, and restrict what can be bought with a welfare access card to the penny. Split and cap funds for itemizations of misc/adult/child items and welfare money wont be so attractive to the ones who use [have] children to abuse it. Everyone gets what they need and abusing the child's funds would be near impossible.
"...you can’t dream of a better world, either … when you can’t sleep, you can’t dream," (one of them)
Is this person for real? this is a bunch of crap! doesn't he know an idividual have to work to put a roof on their head, and food on the table? that's basic in life 101! I used to live in Washington, DC,I have a masre's degree but nobody gave me a fair chance, so I had to do all kinds of odd jobs, doing didhes, cleaning bathrooms,gardening,...etc, to keep a roof over my head! all those people can do the same! get the hell out of the streets!,the parks! get a life!!, grow up!!China has been moving to the top, America has been sliding down because of the laziness, the entitlment mentalities!!
Truth is these are people who are either trust fund liberals who have no clue about earning what they have or those people who have always depended on someone else to provide what they need. They are mad because the gravy train is slowing down, having run out of steam (cash). In the process that gravy train ran over the jobs of working folks and put them in the same boat as those who took the earnings from them. Socialism works that way. If our schools taught properly instead of concentrating on PC special interest cramming of crap down the throats of our kids, the masses might understand that simple fact.
Yeah, the deadline will probably carry as much water as the "sanctions" against Iran.
Bunch of worthless campers ought to be hosed out of the area and down the sewer with the rest of the trash!
John F. Kennedy famously said “Those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent protest inevitable.”
these loons have been violent from the start; as soon as the common folk saw who they actually are and dismissed them; a bunch of big labor-funded anarchists and the usual far-left self-hating American crowd.
so you couldn't get the press you wanted and YOU left-wingnuts fruitcakes PURPOSELY decided to ramp up the violence.
so get real; stop lying to yourself and to others.
What? Were is their Champion Mr. Obama? What is good for the goose is apparently not good for the gander...Now that they are in his face.
You people are pathetic, and stupid as fence posts, you think it's ok that peoples rights are taken away, that they are beaten, jailed, shot with rubber bullets. You won't feel that way when the same measures are applied to you, and to think that they won't be eventually is just what your corrupt government wants, they will and it will be too late to do anything about it by then. Good luck.
The world through the eyes of a Progressive who hear, see, and speak no evil when it comes to the acts of anarchists.
They wouldn't be arrested if they weren't breaking laws. that's how it works.
LMAO @ YOU!!!!!
the morons on the left think they have a constitutional right to pee on cars, camp wherever they want, rape the girl in the tent next to you, riot, battle police, break into City Hall, vandalize, do drugs in the park and make whiny fools of themselves whenever and wherever they want.
thanks idiot; i didnt realize you were rioting, vandalizing and destroying property in my name for all that is good and just!!
So the squatters are subject to having their freedom of movement restricted (i.e. arrest) and their belongings confiscated? Sounds like the cops are getting ready to occupy the occupiers to me.
LOL!@w bush, c'mon man, put down the kool aid and the bong hahahaha
Yeah "bush infection"! Because when the occupy people leave the "Government Baddies" will come to my "JOB" and jail and beat me and take away my rights! Who do I think I am? Going to work, paying my bills, not asking for things! Wait I do ask for directions sometimes! $H!T, I'm an occupier!