Occupy Philly: From the Frontlines - Part 4: Eviction

They lied.

On Sunday, November 27th at 5PM, Occupy Philly was supposed to leave Dilworth Plaza after an eviction order from the City of Philadelphia. Despite this, more than 1000 people came down to protest and defy the eviction. By 11PM, it became clear that no one was going to be removed. The move came because the City of Philadelphia for nearly two weeks said that they needed to leave so construction could begin on Dilworth Plaza.

By Tuesday, Novmber 29th, it became clear that the city lied about why Occupy Philly had to leave. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that on that same day that the Wolk Law Firm had a permit for the spot to put up a plane at Dilworth Plaza at the same time "construction" was supposed to begin. The permit was signed and approved the same week the eviction order was given!

In other words, the reason Occupy Philly was being evicted was a lie.

Last night, November 29th, Occupy Philly was evicted from Dilworth Plaza. There have been nearly 70 arrests. Reports are coming in that they will no longer be allowed to march during the day, that every single park they tried to go to was blocked by the police, and reports of the police being violent as well as some protestors. A friend of my from Occupy Philly Media, Vanessa, possibly had two toes broken by a horse.

Either a horse was spooked or made to attack a crowd of protestors as well:

There is another report that a police pulled a knife on a protestor:

A person nearly getting crushed by a horse:


And a ton of protestors facing off against the cops:

As the day goes on, the reports from the mainstream media are ignoring the fact that there was another event planned for the site despite "construction." Even after the eviction, it still isn't being reported.

Reports are coming in that Mayor Nutter wasn't in town Sunday, but was in Chicago to attend a funeral.

Occupy Philly: From the Frontlines - Part 3: The Move

Yesterday, November 18th, a vote was held at the General Assembly about a possible preemptive move from Dilworth Plaza to Thomas Paine Plaza at the Municipal Services Building. The vote to move was in response to the eviction notice that was sent from the City of Philadelphia. After hours and hours of debate, a vote was held at around 10PM.

Here are the raw details of that vote:

Proposal: To move across the street to Thomas Paine Plaza in response to the eviction notice immediately after General Assembly (GA).

Amendments:

1. To move to Rittenhouse Square instead
2. To postpone the move until noon the next day
3. To block traffic while doing the move.

In the end, no amendments passed and the vote to move that night was around 65 to 74. On a whole, a vast majority of people were OK with moving over there in general, but the main reason for the split in the vote was because of the time of the move; that night.

Why else did we want to move?

1. The City of Philadelphia, along with the mayor's office and various other offices, indicated that they would like to see us move and actually proposed Thomas Paine Plaza multiple times.

2. The Unions has said they supported us, but the longer we waited to move, the less likely they were to support us. During the General Assembly, it was stressed that the unions would help us in the move as well.



So what happened once we had the vote to move that night? No one helped us.

Immediately after GA, people began packing up their materials to move across the street. At the same time, there was no visual support from any of the Unions, at least none that I could see. Within minutes of people beginning to set up at Thomas Paine Plaza, reports came in to the rest of the camp that the police weren't allowing anyone to setup. Soon, there was an official order to disperse. In return, everyone at Occupy Philly, after some discussion, returned and picked up their things and moved them back across the street.



In the end, the entire affair was hectic but civil. Again, there were no arrests and save the confusion, everyone was OK. The Philadelphia Police are currently blocking anyone from moving over. All the while, Occupy Philly is trying to reach a solution on being able to move.

Occupy Philly: Eviction - Facts and Fiction

1. Occupy Philly was told to leave immediately.

MIXED: The official notice from the City of Philadelphia states the following:

"Be advised that the Permit for Demonstration on City Property issued by the City of Philadelphia effective 10/6/11 expires at the start of the Dilworth Plaza construction project. This project’s commencement is imminent. Accordingly, you should take this opportunity to vacate Dilworth Plaza and remove all of your personal belongings immediately."

At the same time, this was NOT a formal notice of eviction. The city claims its just a friendly statement.


2. Occupy Philly is getting raided tonight or tomorrow!

FALSE: The City of Philadelphia, willing to speak on the record, maDE the statement that was repeated to the General Assembly (GA) tonight that there are no plans to evict Occupy Philly within the next 48 hours. That 48 hours lasts until Friday Night around 7PM.


3. This eviction is part of a coordinated effort between mayors and the FBI.

PLAUSIBLE: Mayor Nutter, who has changed his tone since getting re-elected, stated that while he is the Vice President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said he did not work with the Mayor of Oakland and 17 other mayors to crackdown and evict the occupations across the country. At the same time, a news article stating that the FBI and Homeland Security worked with local law officials in various cities to evict them.


4. Occupy Philly will not move!

MIXED: Occupy Philly has stated time and time again that they ARE willing to move, but only once basic questions are answered, such as if they're allowed to have tents at the new spot (Thomas Paine Plaza is most likely it) and what resources will be available. Some people have said they want to stay, and the Occupation is fine with that. At the same time, that's a very small minority and does not speak for the vast majority who are OK with moving. It isn't about the location; its about the message.


5. Occupy Philly has not been working with the City of Philadelphia!

FALSE: I can't stress this one enough! The legal team has been working with the city, and a working group known as Reasonable Solutions has been talking to the city as well and trying to help fix the situation. At the same time, because there is no one person in charge, it is confusing for the City of Philadelphia to talk to the Occupation. Despite that, its safe to say that Mayor Nutter or Deputy Mayor Nagin saying no one is willing to talk to them is just a flat our LIE.


6. Occupy Philly's permit expires when construction begins!

TRUE: Despite the fact the people in Occupy Philly's General Assembly voted on the permit only if there was no end date, NO ONE who voted on it was told we would have to leave once construction began. In fact, it wasn't even brought up.


7. You guys are just looking for a confrontation!

FALSE: The vast majority of people at Occupy Philly are not looking for any sort of confrontation outside of civil debate. The idea of a "show-down" is not something the vast majority wants, and instead we would rather handle this as civilly as possible. The City of Philadelphia and the media are lying to you when they say that's Occupy Philly wants anything else.


So, lets just state what we know:

There is NO EVICTION scheduled! At best, we know nothing will happen until Friday Evening. The City of Philadelphia stated it would not try to evict or forcibly remove anyone within 48 hours of the notice.