- Photo by Grant Baldwin
- Capt. Estes of the CMPD reads the new city ordinance to members of Occupy Charlotte
Creative Loafing reporter Rhiannon Fionn is on the ground at Old City Hall tonight talking to members of Occupy Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police about the ramifications of Monday’s eviction. That’s when police plan to go in and enforce a new city ordinance barring camping on the city hall grounds.
Some observers fear there will be a confrontation, although others say that fear is overstated. The one thing that’s certain right now is the uncertainty surrounding what can stay and what can go; what kind of tent is considered a “living accommodation” and what kind isn’t. When CMPD Capt. Jeff Estes showed up at around 5 p.m. today to read the new ordinance to the group, the occupiers “inundated” him with questions, said photographer Grant Baldwin.
CL reporter Fionn said the mood remained generally calm, and that the group had undergone rigorous civil disobedience training earlier in the day. “They made it clear to the police that they have questions about the ordinance and the police also admitted that they’re not clear about it either” said Fionn. “In fact, the police advised the protesters to consult their attorneys.”
Fionn and Baldwin will remain on the scene through the night, as rumors have spread that some kind of police action may happen between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. Monday. That has not been confirmed by the police or the city. Also present on the scene is Isaac Sturgill, director of the Charlotte School of Law chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, who told Fionn that the Guild “wants the police and city to know they’re watching.” Sturgill wrote a “City Forum” column on the topic for CL in December.
At around 9 p.m., the Charlotte occupiers held a march to show solidarity with their counterparts from Occupy Oakland, where demonstrators broke into the city hall and damaged property after police arrested hundreds of protesters. Catch up with that story at The Christian Science Monitor.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2012.
As in the case of every convention, the local leadership is cleaning up the streets and running out the undesirables.
Poke, the conventioneers ARE the undesirables: bailout-supporting, war-mongering, bankster-loving, PATRIOT-extending, Bernanke-nominating, Constitution-shredding Obamatons.
The bailouts started under the Bush Administration, the wars were initiated by President Bush, and since President Obama began withdrawing the troops from Iraq all the Republicans that can get to a microphone are demanding he send them back in. Bernanke was appointed by President Bush, the USAPatriot Act, the strongest assault on the Constitution in history, was passed during the Bush Administration.
Now if your complaint is that President Obama hasn’t CHANGED those Bush policies, then you have a valid point. But if you think the solution is to return power to the people who INITIATED those things you are not thinking it through.
Ahem, DLP. “ALL” the Republicans? Does the name “Ron Paul” ring a bell?
Obama had the pick of three hundred million Americans for Fed chairman. He reappointed Bernanke. He had the choice of vetoing the PATRIOT extension. He instead signed it via “robo pen”. In 2005 Harry Reid walked up to a microphone and proudly announced that Democrats had “killed the PATRIOT Act”. In 2011 Harry Reid accused his colleague GOP Rand Paul of “giving terrorists the opportunity to plot against our country” when Paul attempted, under Senate rules, to slow down the passage of the PATRIOT extension.
Also, there are more troops in Afghanistan than there were when Obama took office, as well as 17,000 contractors in Iraq. Don’t forget secret prisons in Somalia, drone strikes in Yemen, assassinations in Iran, etc., as well as a Pentagon budget far greater than any during the Bush years.
Take off the blue dunce hat you’re wearing that has obviously fallen down over your eyes.