Deaths Have Cities Calling for OWS Shutdown
Three deaths in or near Occupy Wall Street encampments in different cities late last week have given authorities reason to insist that shutting the protests down is in the public’s best interest. (more)
Three deaths in or near Occupy Wall Street encampments in different cities late last week have given authorities reason to insist that shutting the protests down is in the public’s best interest.
City leaders in Oakland cited the fatal shooting of a man Thursday just outside the Occupy site as proof that the camp itself bred crime, though the homicide was the city’s 101st this year. “Why is the media even here?” one protester shouted after the event, according to The New York Times. “This happens every day in Oakland.” Protesters say the killing was connected to the movement only insofar as the poverty generated by the activities of U.S. financial institutions breeds violence.
In Burlington, Vt., also on Thursday, police said a 35-year-old military veteran died in a tent at the OWS site in City Hall Park from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. And on Friday, the body of a middle-aged man who reportedly died from a combination of drugs and carbon monoxide poisoning was removed from a tent at the movement’s Salt Lake City encampment. — ARK
Wait, before you go…AP via The Huffington Post:
For the second time in as many days, Oakland city officials warned protesters Saturday morning that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza overnight and face immediate arrest and the removal of their tents, stoves, sleeping bags and other belongings. The eviction notices come as officials across the country urged an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire.
“Your activities are injurious to health, obstruct the free use of property, interfering with the comfortable enjoyment of (Frank Ogawa Plaza), and unlawfully obstruct the free passage or use of a public park or square,” the notice read.
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