Live Blog for #Occupy Movement: Occupy Philly Eviction in Progress
By: Kevin Gosztola Saturday November 26, 2011 11:58 pm photo: Kevin Gosztola
(updated w/ items for Sunday – scroll down for livestream from the scene)
Two of the most prominent occupations in the country are facing imminent eviction. Occupy LA and Occupy Philly have both been issued orders to leave the site they have been occupying.
Firedoglake’s Lisa Derrick, who blogs at La Figa, reports on the press conference yesterday. Occupy LA said, “Oh no! We won’t go!” And put out a statement, “All forms of weaponry used by multiple law enforcement officials – including, but not limited, to rubber bullets, pepper spray, verbal abuse, arrest, foam batons, tear gas, long-range acoustic devices and more – are not to be used on those exercising their First Amendment Rights to petition our government for redress of grievances,” ahead of the eviction.
Mayor Antonio Villairaigosa cited the success Occupy LA has had in changing the conversation and then proceeded to state, “It is time for Occupy LA to movement from this piece of parkland…It is time to close the park and restore this to a public park.” And said by 12:01 am on November 28 the eviction order would be enforced. [Derrick has been superb in her reporting from Occupy LA so follow her for updates Sunday as mass arrests are possible.]
Occupy Philly, one of the first occupations I visited when I began to tour the country to see occupations, has been told by Mayor Michael Nutter that they have 48 hours to leave because a construction project is slated to begin.
No issue has been more difficult for the City and for Occupy Philadelphia than the impending start of the $50 million project on Dilworth Plaza, where nearly 1,000 workers will remark the plaza into a green, transit-oriented place of rest.
When I met with representatives of Occupy Philadelphia on Wednesday, October 5, I informed them of the project, and when we issued a demonstration permit a few days later, we made it clear that when construction was slated to begin, the group would need to move.
Last week, the city posted an Official Notice that construction was imminent.
Today, I am happy to report that the City has approved a building permit for Center City District and its general contractor, clearing the way for the start of this 27-month construction process and the many jobs associated with it.
And so now, I am announcing that as of 5pm today everyone now encamped on Dilworth Plaza has 48-hours to remove their possessions and themselves from the project site, which will be fenced for the construction project and public’s safety starting some time next week.
Occupy Philly does not know how it is going to respond to the city yet (or has yet to release a formal statement on how they plan to handle the eviction order). There apparently is a group called “Occupy Philly Reasonable Solutions” that does not represent the group but which the city has been meeting to discuss the future of Occupy Philly. They have called for people to meet at Arch St Methodist Church at 3 pm for an emergency meeting. [Follow @DustinSlaughter for the latest.]
Firedoglake’s premier live blog continues now. This is a weekend edition – covering both Saturday and Sunday. Here is a Twitter list to follow for the latest updates.
LIVESTREAM FROM OCCUPY PHILLY
Watch live streaming video from occupyphiladelphia at livestream.comSunday, November 27, 2011
5:33 PM Deadline for Occupy Philly to leave has passed. Police presence is building up. Here is a photo from the scene from Occupy Philly (was posted to Facebook):
Michael Tracey on the scene (@mtracey reports about 15 police vehicles are at the site outside City Hall. There are a couple vehicles affiliated with Homeland Security. And, then are muncipal dump trucks there too.
Dustin Slaughter (@DustinSlaughter), also on the scene (as expected) tweets that a sit-in is underway. His tweets suggest Philly police don’t want a confrontation and will wait out the occupation until the crowd thins out. Then, they will move in and evict.
2:40 PM UC Board of Regents prepares for protests at four campuses on Monday.
1:19 PM Occupy LA is vowing to stay. And Occupy Philly posts to their Facebook page:
Nutter has joined the chorus of Mayors nationwide to silence and render invisible this movement against Wall Street greed. The City told us to leave City Hall with all of our belongings by 5pm today. At 5pm let’s show them how much support this movement has. Come to City Hall and stand with the 99%! Chances are police will not move in at that time. The City will probably unleash them in the middle of the night to start ripping down tents and displacing the homeless.
12:24 PM 25 new pieces of writing up at Occupy Writers
12:17 PM City police have given Occupy LA eviction notices
12:11 PM Occupy Austin returns to City Hall
11:50 PM Occupy London releases its “policy vision,” which calls for ending tax havens and tax avoidance (via The Guardian)
11:30 PM Robert Alexander Dumas at myFDL writes a firsthand account of Occupy Tucson and how more than 700 citations have been issued
Saturday, November 26, 2011
8:02 PM
4:41 PM Occupy Map launched – shows where occupations are located, where actions have taken place, where police incidents and violence has happened and where medical incidents have occurred
Here is the backstory on how it came to be launched with the Ushaidi platform.
4:18 PM Art exhibit set up on wall at Occupy Boston by David Stokle
3:33 PM NYPD disorder control memo
3:27 PM Excellent op-ed from Lee Siegel on Black Friday being a public demonstration against self-control:
This year it seems that the experiment was flirting with a virulent permanence. The merchants started the sales earlier, and drove their prices down further, than they had before. The customers were more “competitive”—to use the merchants’ own darkly comic euphemism—than they had been before: i.e., they nearly killed each other. The desire to get something for nothing, which had driven both the real-estate and the derivatives market into the ground, was alive and well in the hordes waiting for their discounted Xboxes and table saws. The rage at being excluded from the American Dream, which propels OWS, made its way, in distorted form, into the malls.
1:08 PM ICYMI: Video of Occupy OKC mic checking in Wal-Mart on Black Friday
12:58 PM After Occupy Black Friday — Occupy Xmas — also in protest of rampant consumerism
11:31 AM Newly released records show Oakland police were helped by more than a dozen agencies the night of the “tear-gas filled clash” against Occupy Oakland
11:25 AM Moving from preoccupied to Occupy
11:21 AM 4775 arrests globally in Occupy movement since September 17
11:15 AM Journalist confronts NYPD when told to move or be arrested
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