Occupy Palm Beach Evicted, Again (PHOTOS)

Categories: Activism, Occupy
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Monica McGivern
A Guy Fawkes mask hangs on the tent of a Palm Beach Occupier.
Yesterday morning, we reported about the impending eviction notice to Palm Beach Occupiers. Visibly dwarfed in size since the camp's last showdown, the remaining members were served their official order to leave by West Palm Beach police at 10 a.m.

Curious businessmen in suits watched from the sidewalk as police monitored the situation. The chief who served the notice stated he had a particular time in mind for the property to be clear, but officially a "reasonable amount of time" would be offered before additional measures would be taken.


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Occupy Fort Lauderdale Releases Its "Declaration of Occupation"

Categories: Occupy
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Photo by Ian Witlen
Almost three months after the first "Declaration of Occupation" was released by an Occupy camp -- the first one from the Occupy Wall Street outfit -- Occupy Fort Lauderdale has now aired its list of grievances.

The 40 complaints are divided into four sections in the document, including sections on bankers and the "1%," war mongering/profiteering, climate change, and civil liberties.

Some of the grievances are fairly similar to other declarations put by other Occupy camps around the country, while some appear to be unique.

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Occupy Member Arrested in Boca Raton Has a Bit of a History Doing Publicity Stunts

Categories: Occupy, Really?
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Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Ana Rodriguez
For one of the three Occupy protesters arrested yesterday in Boca Raton, this is at least her fourth publicity stunt involving police -- one of those incidents involving her wearing clown makeup and having to be forcibly removed from a tree.

That's 31-year-old Ana Rodriguez who was hit with charges of resisting a police officer without violence, obstructing a highway, and violating a municipal ordinance yesterday -- along with her two pals -- while lying in the middle of the street protesting the GAIM USA conference.

Rodriguez, according to the environmentalist publication she's listed as the editor of, is "a member of the Night Heron Grassroots Activist Center, organizer with Everglades Earth First! and the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition, and Coalition for Immigrants Rights."

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Occupy Is Dead. Long Live Occupy! Or, How Homeless Phobia Is Marginalizing Everything

Categories: Occupy
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Happy new year! You may remember one of the more original social phenomena of 2011. It was called "the Occupy movement." A couple of guys got together and put out a call through Adbusters magazine for disenfranchised folks to sit around and draw attention to the highfalutin few who systematically pillaged our collective way of life.

Oh, last year. Some cities' occupations imploded with raids -- Oakland, Portland, New York a couple of times -- but Occupy Fort Lauderdale, once it found a safe space outside City Hall, sort of just diminished.

On Christmas Day, the group sent out a dire message on its Facebook page:
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Occupy Fort Lauderdale Tent Discussion Continues; Baby-Eating Raised as Possibility

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There's currently a 76-comment long thread on Occupy Fort Lauderdale's Facebook page about New Times' coverage of the group's choice to comply with a new city rule that effectively bans tents from the occupation spot at City Hall.

Among the things discussed are what's apparently a rift in the group over the tent issue, as well as the possibility of eating this writer's babies.

Thanks to our "cynicism hammer," there's now a bit of discussion available for public view over the group's decision to comply with the tent removal, most of it not related to feasting on infants.

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Occupy Fort Lauderdale Picks Civil Obedience, Caves to City's Rules and Takes Down Tents

Categories: Occupy
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Civil disobedience (noun) 1. "The refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes."

That's what Occupy Fort Lauderdale didn't do.

After losing the challenge to a city rule that required the occupiers to remove their tents from City Hall, Occupy Fort Lauderdale decided to show its defiance of government by packing up their tents and removing them from the property.

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Occupy Palm Beach Getting Kicked Out of Campsite So "Trapeze Experience" Can Move In

Categories: Occupy
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trapeze-experience.com
The new Occupiers?
Murmurs from people associated with the Occupy Palm Beach movement, which has been encamped in West Palm with the city's blessing since October, tell New Times that the group has been told to leave the site by next weekend.

Though the agreement that the occupiers forged with the parks department allows them access to only one-fourth of the empty lot at Flagler Street and Banyan Boulevard, now they need to clear out to make way for a new occupant.

That occupant, currently said to be in negotiations with the city, is none other than Trapeze Experience.More »

Kicked Out but Still Kicking: Five Ways to Keep the Occupy Fort Lauderdale Movement Alive

Categories: Occupy
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A scene from the past
Today, about a third of all American adults will go shopping. Many of them lined up in the early-morning hours, breathlessly filling daily-newspaper pages with pictures of their unchecked wanting, pushing and shoving to get their piece of an engineered discount, forking over cash for shit they don't need.

And, last we heard, a scrappy assemblage of Occupy Fort Lauderdale protesters does just about the opposite, camping out in front of City Hall after a last-minute injunction saved them from extraction on Thanksgiving Eve.

Where will they go next? Have they exhausted every last bit of available space? Should Occupy still try to occupy?

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Occupy Fort Lauderdale Granted Temporary Injunction Over City's New Rules

Categories: Occupy
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Yesterday, a new rule introduced to Fort Lauderdale's policy and standards manual was posted in a courtyard in front of City Hall -- where the Occupy camp has set up shop.

Check out a slide show of the Occupy camp here.

The rule bans tents from the area and bans people from being in the public space between 2 and 6 a.m.

A messenger for City Manager Lee Feldman told the Occupy folks that the tents had to be gone at 5 p.m. today, and the few dozen protesters there this afternoon said they were prepared to peacefully resist any attempt by law enforcement to remove them after 2 a.m.

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Occupy Fort Lauderdale on Monday Afternoon: Five People Short of a Ghost Town

Categories: Occupy
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After reading a tweet this morning from Occupy Fort Lauderdale about "desperately" needing people at their occupation site (City Hall), we decided to check out exactly how many people were hanging around.

Shortly before 3 p.m., there were five people at the occupation site, although we were assured it was no indication that the movement was dying down.

Sure, we'd assume that most people would be at work at 3 p.m. on a weekday, but it's a far cry from the hundreds of people who showed up for Occupy Fort Lauderdale's inaugural meeting.

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