Dozens of protesters from Occupy Wall Street halted traffic in downtown Washington on the final leg of their march from New York to the District on Tuesday.
The marchers walked about 230 miles from Zuccotti Park in New York, where many had been members of Occupy Wall Street, making pit stops to visit other Occupy camps in Philadelphia and Baltimore, before making their final stop at McPherson Square.
They arrived at a camp full of uncertainty, as rumors spread Tuesday among Occupy DC protesters that the camp would be raided by law enforcement in the next 48 hours.
Occupier Kelly Canavan told The Washington Examiner that several sources told protesters the camp would be raided soon. Occupiers were encouraged to remove any illegal items from the park, such as drugs or alcohol at an emergency meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Canavan said the protesters weren’t expecting to get kicked out of the park, but expected tents to be searched.
Police nationwide have raided camps and tent cities and made hundreds of arrests while breaking up Occupy movements in cities such as Oakland and New York. Protesters in D.C. have so far kept a peaceful relationship with the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police, despite clearly violating laws against camping inside the park.
But Occupy DC has come under fire recently after 13 protesters were arrested for breaking into the shuttered Franklin School on Sunday.
And a man living with the Occupiers in McPherson Square was taken into custody after being accused of sexual assault and theft. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District said officials weren’t pursuing charges at this time, though an investigation into the case is ongoing.
| Examiner Archives |
|
|
|
|
Breaking and entering into city-owned property irked some city council members, as the District has spent more than $1 million in city services related to the protesters.
Sgt. David Schlosser, spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, said officers aren’t looking to change the way they’re handling the protesters at this time. Park police have made daily checks of the camp, and MPD officers have been moved from their normal patrol routes to keep an eye on McPherson Square.
“Right now there’s nothing going on that rises to the level of changing that,” Schlosser said. “We hear [raid rumors] about once a week. I’m not going to discuss specifics on tactics.”
The Occupy marchers arrived a day late to protest a congressional “super committee” that failed to hash out an agreement that would slash $1.2 trillion from the nation’s budget deficit.
