This morning begins the 111th day of the Occupy Syracuse protest.
Three days ago, Syracuse mayor Stephanie Miner used fire safety as a pretext to give the Occupy Syracuse an ultimatum: Leave the area that has been named by protesters as Perseverence Park or be hauled off to jail.
The police were a little bit late, but not too long after the deadline passed, the tents Occupy Syracuse protesters had been using to stay warm during the night were taken away. Contrary to Mayor Miner’s expectations, however, the Occupy Syracuse protest did not go away.
The protesters stayed put, and have stayed put since, keeping up a 24-hour occupation of the public square, without shelter, even though the weeks-long stretch of unusually warm weather in Upstate New York has finally ended. They’re standing, they’re sitting, they are persevering, despite fire inspections that are taking place every two hours, looking for some evidence to justify the physical removal of the protesters.
The inspectors have found nothing. The protesters are cold, very cold, but they are keeping on with the protest. “We are not going to leave this spot,” they’re saying. “The camp is still here. It just doesn’t have tents. It just doesn’t have structures.”
The 99 Percent are giving 100 percent.
i hope it leads to something more powerful – something that can’t be pushed aside, ignored or bullied by the powers that be, like most of the city of Syracuse participating or a new way of doing the business of running the city without the corporate controlled/homeland security directed government of the 1% controlling everything. Fascist goons deserve to be ousted like shithead out in Wisconsin.