The Occupy Raleigh demonstration at the State Capitol had become a hazard to pedestrians walking along Morgan Street. I took a walk today and nearly stumbled several times trying to get from one end of the sidewalk on the south side of the Capitol to the other end. It was filled with coolers, cardboard signs, boxes of food, blankets, tarps, and all manner of junk.
Well, around 2 p.m. today we heard that the cops had insisted that the demonstrators de-occupy Raleigh, so we walked the one block to the Capitol to check it out. We were greeted by a middle-aged woman yelling, “They’re making us leave, but our ideas remain. They’re making us leave, but our ideas remain.”
It turns out she was premature in her assessment of the police crackdown. All they wanted, it seems, was that the demonstrators get rid of all the junk and food boxes blocking the sidewalk. “It was attracting homeless people,” one Capitol police officer told me.
Here are a few pics of the disgruntled protesters loading their stuff into pickup trucks and cars. Things were quiet until the TV folks arrived, then everyone began the ritual chants of the American left-winger, beginning with the traditional “Hey, ho,” and moving on to “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out.”
