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Occupy L.A. Remains Another Night; Shrinks From Thousands to Hundreds

Categories: Occupy L.A.

occupy remains.jpg
Ted Soqui
Occupiers infesting street on Sunday November 27
Occupy L.A. stayed untouched Monday night and protesters stayed put, 30 hours past the eviction deadline.

But unlike Sunday night, which had more than 2,000 occupiers present, the late Monday/early Tuesday population in front of City Hall had shrunk to around 500 people, a number which continued to slowly decrease thought the night.

Protester numbers weren't the only thing that dwindled...

... Media attention shrunk dramatically too. All the local TV stations left by 11:20 p.m., and at 2 a.m., only two media representatives braved the early morning chill, including L.A. Weekly.

No public demonstrations were conducted, but a commotion began around 12:45 a.m. when a siren-blaring fire engine and ambulance arrived on the corner of 1st and Main streets to care for a woman who had trouble keeping her eyes open and complained of her face hurting.

A small crowd swarmed, but when a man shouted "this doesn't matter, just leave her alone," the crowd dispersed.

After the paramedics loaded her into the ambulance and drove off, the camp returned to its quiet state for the remainder of the night.

Craig Tonnies, a young protester who has been occupying for two months, believed that the LAPD was going raid the camp because of the dramatically reduced population.

"It feels like tonight," said Tonnies around 11 p.m. "It would make sense if they did it tonight."

But the police resisted, and instead a group of 15 officers remained at arms length, standing in the courtyard of police headquarters across the street for the entire night.

By 5 a.m. the majority of the camp was sleeping, and it seemed as if Occupy L.A. would live for another day.

LAPD never showed any intentions to even attempt to clear the camp. An officer who walked through the camp to his post at the west entrance of City Hall said that LAPD Commander Andrew Smith would not be arriving to make a statement and was probably in bed after a long night on Sunday.

The biggest threat to the occupiers appeared to be the constant presence of squad cars that slowly circled the camp, like hungry sharks waiting for their weakened prey to die so they can finish them off with ease.

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10 comments
John
John

"like hungry sharks waiting for their weakened prey to die so they can finish them off with ease." That is some terrible writing Ryan, on numerous levels. I get that you want to make it dramatic but pulp is not dramatic it is melo-dramatic. terrible. kinda reminds me of a MASH episode when Radar buys into a writing course he finds in the back of a comic book.

novenator
novenator

Stay strong and be vigilant.  Everyone in attendance should be ready to text, tweet, and post alert messages the second the cops show up to smash up this occupation.  Have people at the ready to swarm in.

Sawbill72
Sawbill72

Could someone a little less prone to dramatics edit that last paragraph out of this otherwise decent post?

lulu
lulu

I thought that was an awesome ending. Loved the shark anology.

Chewyispimp
Chewyispimp

What are the movnents goals, other than raising awarness. Make some changes

Anna
Anna

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City:As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.They have sold our privacy as a commodity.They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*To the people of the world,We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.Join us and make your voices heard!*These grievances are not all-inclusive

clvngodess
clvngodess

Actually, there was media present and streaming live throughout the night. KPFK was there among other independent media. And what's the stupid ending statement regarding squad cars? Does this blogger, um, jounalist want the movement to die?

Dina2bNOSPAM
Dina2bNOSPAM

well certainly the person who wrote the copy on the photo wants the movement to die when stated,  "occupiers infesting street..."  Implying that occupiers were no more than vermin.

Leone
Leone

Since last night the police held a meeting forcing media into a pool arrangement, whereby only a few representatives of the media okayed by LAPD can remain without being threatened with arrest along with the occupiers, maybe that's one reason less media were around.

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