Image by Jim, the Photographer via Flickr
ife at the Occupy Philadelphia encampment continued unabated Monday – although on a much smaller scale – despite the passing of Mayor Nutter’s deadline for the protesters to evacuate the plaza in front of City Hall more than 24 hours earlier. The protesters had been told to leave by 5 p.m. Sunday so construction could begin on a $50 million renovation of Dilworth Plaza, real estate the Occupy movement has turned into a tent city of political activism. The city, after negotiating with segments of protesters, issued a permit that allows them to demonstrate across the street at Thomas Paine Plaza from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. but prohibits overnight camping. That permit went into effect Monday, but few appeared to avail themselves of the opportunity to protest there.
“Our point simply is that people out on Dilworth Plaza are on a work site, they do not have a permit,” said Mark McDonald, a spokesman for Mayor Nutter. “They need to pack up and leave.” About 75 tents remained on the plaza Monday, down from about 300 at the height of the protest. City sanitation workers moved throughout the plaza, removing trash and debris. Police remained in force at the edges of the plaza throughout the day, at times interacting with the occupiers as they served meals and pounded out rhythms in a drum circle. McDonald said he could not comment on when or if police would forcibly evacuate Dilworth, but said protesters would be given a final warning before arrests were made. For more information check out the full article posted by Yahoo.com here.
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- All is calm as deadline passes for Occupy Philadelphia (philly.com)
- Occupy Philly Deadline Passes (huffingtonpost.com)
- Occupy Philadelphia moves to Thomas Paine Plaza, then back to Dilworth (philly.com)
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