After NY crackdown, Occupy DC tent cities expect to grow

WASHINGTON - The crackdown on Occupy Wall Street in New York alarmed protesters in Washington who nevertheless felt confident Tuesday their thriving downtown encampment will not only endure, but grow. Set up on October 1, Occupy DC has turned McPherson Square, in the heart of the K Street lobbying district and a stone's throw from the White House, into a youthful tent city so far tolerated by local authorities. A second tent city, which bills itself as Occupy Washington DC, stands at nearby Franklin Square. It grew out of an anti-war protest in mid-October spearheaded by older, more seasoned activists. "I think we're going to stay all winter," said Marc Smith, a member of Occupy DC's media team, told AFP after a sleepless night with fellow occupiers watching events in New York via live Internet video. "I don't think there's any plan on leaving... There's really not too much concern at this point." In fact, Occupy DC expects to grow by at least a few dozen "sleepers" with the arrival on November 22 of a group of Occupy Wall Street activists who set off from New York -- on foot -- last Thursday. "Our march to Washington DC continues as scheduled in just a few hours," the trekkers said on their website before departing Philadelphia. Brian Grimes, a familiar figure by the information tent in McPherson Square since day three of the occupation, said he understood Occupy Wall Street "didn't even get a pretense of a reason" for the early-morning swoop. "It seems the more they do to squash this movement, the more people seem to join it and become more defiant," added musician and US army veteran Darrell Willis under the park's equestrian statue of Civil War general James McPherson. If Occupy DC comes across as better organized than its counterparts in other cities, it's probably due to politics being the number-one industry in the US capital, where street demonstrations are commonplace. "The locals here are very used to dealing with political issues, and through the nature of their jobs they do a lot of organizing," Grimes told AFP as early-risers played chess and office workers passed through. Occupy DC scaled back its "direct actions" targeting big banks and political events after an evening march on a right-wing fund-raising dinner on November 4 erupted in scuffles and a hit-and-run incident that left six people hurt. But it could soon reassert itself, as Americans await the post-Thanksgiving verdict of a congressional "supercommittee" tasked with deciding what federal programs will get the axe in the midst of the worst US economy in decades. Like the capital itself, the tent city is organized in quadrants, with an information center, medical tent, library and free kitchen in one corner, sleeping tents in two other corners, and an open meeting space in the forth. That open space hosts a nightly general assembly and, incongruously, a flock of ducks that flies in every evening. The layout impressed the Washington Post newspaper enough to dedicate its Style section one day last week to Occupy DC as a phenomenon breathing new life into a part of the city otherwise known for poker-faced men in suits. Since the November 4 incident, Washington's local police force -- which had been quick to provide a motorcycle escort whenever the occupiers took off on a march -- have stepped up their presence around McPherson Square. But the park itself belongs to the National Park Service, and therefore its tent city is the responsibility of its own specialized police force, which has so far chosen not to enforce an explicit ban on camping. — AFP