As temperatures dipped into the teens this week, some Occupy DC protesters left the encampments at Freedom Plaza and McPherson Square to take refuge elsewhere.
“I’m 62. I have arthritis in my knees. It got cold and uncomfortable,” said Crystal Zevon, a writer from Greenfield, Mass., who lent her tent to another protester. She said she is moving indoors to help plan the group’s big spring protests.
“I feel I’m just as much a part of it as I ever was,” she added. “But I’m not a masochist.”
The Post reports that Zevon is among about half of the protesters who are now planning to move the protest indoors. Protester Kevin Zeese says that half the protesters in Freedom Plaza will move into homes owned by supporters where the activists will make plans for spring marches and other events.
While there haven’t been any reports of hypothermia yet, the D.C. Department of Health remains concerned about health and safety at the camps, and have been passing out literature on hypothermia and tips to avoid the flu and other illnesses.
Sightings of rats has sparked concern over the sanitation conditions at the parks, prompting Occupy DC to make a more serious cleaning effort.
“Ok ya’ll, let’s get to it: #occupydcneeds rakes, brooms, heavy duty trash bags, gloves, and YOUR help to clean up!” Occupy DC (@OccupyKSt) announced via Twitter.
WTOP’s Neal Augenstein posted a photo of the kitchen as protesters cleaned it.
Ultimately, the decision on whether or not to evict the protesters will come at the federal level due to the camps’ locations, the Post reports:
D.C. health inspectors will be visiting again Friday or early Monday, she said, but they have little power to correct any problems they observe because the camps are on federal land. The final call on whether to close the camps over health and sanitation concerns must come from the National Park Service, Isaacs said.
The Park Service has said that the protesters have a First Amendment right to continue their “24-hour vigil” at the two encampments but that the agency will move in to evict protesters if sanitation conditions warrant.
Despite the uniqueness of their somewhat protected status, Occupy DC preemptively applied for a court order Wednesday to head off any attempt by police to raid McPherson Square, a small park located near the White House.
In a request for a US District Court injunction, the protesters said it would be unlawful to pull down their tent city because the National Park Service police lack procedures to seize, store and return property.
They also assert that if such procedures are put in place, they could be applied against specifically targeted property, and not the entire encampment in the K Street lobbying district.
Unlike its sister camp at Freedom Plaza, the McPherson Square camp lacks a permit to remain on the land. Freedom Plaza recently had its permit extended to February 28, “so long as it shares space with a conservative group planning lunchtime rallies,” Raw Story reports.
This Sunday marks the 100th day of Occupy DC, one of the last major Occupy camps left standing in the United States.
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