Battle lines have been drawn, and now Mayor Slay is ready to shut down the illegal campsite that has “occupied” Kiener Plaza for the last several weeks.
City officials will take action [Friday] afternoon to take down Occupy St. Louis' encampment at Kiener Plaza…
Slay and his administration argue that the protest area, which includes a number of tents, violates city ordinances.
…the group received an e-mail from Gary Bess, St. Louis' parks and recreation director. According to the group, the e-mail stated: "I would like to give you notice that effective 1 p.m. tomorrow, Nov. 11, 2011 or any time thereafter, the city of St. Louis will begin strict enforcement of all ordinances and regulations pertaining to the use of Kiener Plaza." […]
In a post on his blog, the mayor indicated that the city "soon will resume enforcement of the 10 p.m. curfew at Kiener Plaza."
And some of these idiots actually want to be arrested.
Brian Staack was arrested several weeks ago, for violating the park's curfew, while protesting. He says he's not moving his tent. […]
"I'm willing to go to jail right now. We don't care about a curfew because we're occupying St. Louis," said occupier Pierce Holmes.
Things may not go smoothly, however. There’s a whiff of forceful opposition in the air.
There’s another twist to the Kiener Plaza occupation; at two o’clock [Friday] afternoon a former St. Louis County Police officer plans to deliver a speech about police brutality.
The notification came in last night. The information is sketchy; the officer who will be making the statement is not mentioned but it involves a group calling themselves “Occupy Police Team & Officers of the 99.” The speech, according to the release will involve what the group calls history with St Louis Police and brutal tactics used against protesters by some departments. It will also include the officers own firsthand experience with police brutality.
The goal according to the group is to call out Mayor Slay and put an end to what they call the planned raid 3 o’clock this afternoon.
All in all, this may be a very interesting weekend both for STL and the nationwide “Occupy” movement as a whole.
This whole “movement” has been just one giant powder-keg waiting for a spark.
Might this be that spark?
- B.H.
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