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Still No Raid On Occupy LA

Ryan Faughnder |
November 29, 2011 | 12:10 p.m. PST

Senior News Editor

 

Two days after the passing of the city’s deadline for Occupy L.A. protesters to clear their encampment, the demonstrators maintained a diminished presence of tents on the City Hall lawn Tuesday. 

Occupier Michael Castro (Ryan Faughnder)
Occupier Michael Castro (Ryan Faughnder)

The occupiers have been camping out at City Hall for about 60 days, and remained there Tuesday, despite an order from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck to clear the area by 12:01 a.m. Monday. Police were virtually absent from the lawn Tuesday morning.

Though there was no indication of when a police raid enforcing the eviction order might occur, protesters argued that, for the protest movement that sparked in Occupy Wall Street in New York and spread nationwide, there is life after authorities eventually tear down the tent city.

Even so, conflicting views of what to do after inevitable police action showed divisions within the camp.

“There’s going to be a plan,” said 20-something protester Michael Castro, who’s been camping out at Occupy L.A. for a month. However, he said, a plan to set up camp in another location would take several days because of the movement’s collective decision-making process.

“It’s going to be a heavily contested issue, and it’s going to take a long time,” he said. “It’s kind of a sausage factory.”

Castro recently joined the makeshift medical tent at Occupy L.A., which he said is preparing to deal with injuries that could be sustained during a police raid.

Dressed in a camouflage jacket decorated with red duct tape in the shapes of crosses, he showed off an Arrowhead water bottle filled with a solution made of water and Maalox, used as a remedy for pepper spray.

Adbusters magazine, which is credited with sparking the Occupy Wall Street protests, recently published a blog post saying the demonstrators could essentially declare victory and “throw a party.”

“Then we clean up, scale back and most of us go indoors while the die-hards hold the camps,” Adbusters proposed. “We use the winter to brainstorm, network, build momentum so that we may emerge rejuvenated with fresh tactics, philosophies, and a myriad projects ready to rumble next spring.”

Many supporters declared success based on the perception that they have asserted issues of economic injustice into the public consciousness.

However, Castro and other protesters maintained that the protests require a public presence to remain effective.

“Without tents, there’s no movement,” he said.

Others agreed, including Nazareth Lavi, 47, who used to work for a credit repair company.

“People need to see first hand what has become of their country,” Lavi said.

Maximillian Villa, who volunteers in the medical tent with Castro, giving out limited supplies though he has no formal medical training, said he is in it for the long haul.

He said his home was foreclosed on in February and he was squatting until the Occupy movement came to Los Angeles.

“It’s going to take the rest of our lives,” Villa said.

Police Chief Charlie Beck said in an interview with the L.A. Times on Monday that time is on the side of the police, as the occupation dwindles, saying arrests are “inevitable.” The lawn last week had as many as 500 tents. Now there is about half that number. Passersby can see the brown patches where grass used to be.

Beck told the Times that any raid would take place “efficiently and with minimal force.”

Occupiers on Monday requested a court order to keep police from forcing protesters to leave the camp, saying that the city’s order to leave contradicted City Council’s earlier resolution supporting the movement.

Police have shown restraint throughout the Los Angeles protest movement, avoiding any violent confrontations that have marred protests everywhere from New York and Oakland to the University of California at Davis.

Mike Cadera, a young, homeless aspiring filmmaker who said he’s been protesting at City Hall since the first day, said this explains why a raid has not occurred.

“They see what happens with the other protests around the country," Cadera said. "Even when people may not understand or agree with our vision, they still support us when police move in.”

A couple dozen occupiers piled into the City Council meeting Tuesday to decry the mayor’s call for them to pack up their tents. They took turns reading from a sheet of paper, with a chorus of protesters repeating each line.

“We’re here to tell you that this city is suffering,” said Pete Thottam, an Occupy organizer and Venice neighborhood councilman. “We’re here to work with you to provide a sounding board for the public.”

 

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