It looks like Occupy DC protesters will be part of the downtown landscape for at least two more months. The National Park Service is working on an extension of the Freedom Plaza protesters’ permit so it will run through April 29th, the Associated Press reports.
Protest organizers say they have complied with park service regulations. They aren’t sleeping in the plaza and they’re only using their tents for symbolic purposes. Their permit was supposed to expire on Tuesday.
At the beginning of February, Park Police swept through the Occupy camps, removing trash, some camping equipment, and dead rats. Park Police began enforcing a no-camping rule, allowing demonstrators to maintain 24-hour vigil demonstrations in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, but prohibiting them from sleeping. The group was protesting international agriculture firm Monsanto.
The Occupy movement has been quiet for several weeks, but several arrests were made on Wednesday. D.C. police arrested a dozen protesters at 13th Street and I Wednesday morning. Police said ten were arrested for blocking a building, and two were arrested for crossing a police line.
The Occupy DC movement began in October, on the 10th anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan.
