Protesting = Camping?

Hi this is Doug, a lawyer and volunteer blogger for the OccupyOC movement.

I was one of the volunteers who met with the Santa Ana police and a city attorney.  They said as far as they are concerned there is no exception to the municipal code and Occupy OC movement is just another camping trip.  Does that make sense to you?  Should the protesters in the Arab Spring have gone home each night because Egypt had a no camping ordinance?

Is this free speech in our country, you can protest but only til 9pm?  Free speech has a curfew?

One of the other volunteers pointed out that Irvine has a no camping ordinance and they (Irvine!) were willing to make an exception.  Los Angeles has made an exception.  But Santa Ana?  Not on their watch.

You can make a difference though.  Call 1 714 647 6520 which is the number for the Santa Ana City council. Call them and demand they allow camping for protesters.  The entire principle of the Occupy Wallstreet movement is that it is an ongoing protest, not a one day phenomenon, but an organic living breathing protest that calls attention in the way no one day could.  That the top 1 percent control over half the wealth of this country and therefore they write the rules, they dictate to government who in turn dictates to us.

That is not what makes America a place we want to live in.  Not a place that celebrates free speech, independent spirit and a belief that anyone can work hard and be successful.  But when large banks rewrite the laws that stop them from making unsound investments with your money, and then blackmail the government into bailing them out from those unsound investments, well you've been robbed twice.  First by the bank who used your money for the investments and ruined your 501k, and then you're being taxed to death to pay for the bailout of the banks.  That's the America we've become.  Say that's not a government we're willing to tolerate.  Say no.  Come out to Occupy OC and stand up and be counted.  The 99 have had enough!

Call 1 714 647 6520, ask for the city council, the mayor, the mayor pro tem and tell them that they need to make an exception and allow OccupyOC to camp out or Santa Ana is going to have terrible publicity just like Boston, New York and other police departments who have cracked down on nonviolent protest and free speech.