During Tuesday’s Homelessness Vigil, some occupiers, many of them homeless, felt called to protest the hypocrisy inherent in Mayor Hancock’s attitude towards the homeless. It is ironic for Mayor Hancock to make a PR stunt at a vigil for deceased homeless less than 24 hours after violently destroying the largest homeless encampment in Denver. Mayor Hancock cannot have his cake and eat it too. Occupy Denver wants it to be clear that Mayor Hancock was not shouted down by priveleged college students or granola-munching Prius drivers, but by the very same homeless population that he claims to care about. At Occupy Denver, homeless individuals have found love, respect, food, and friendship. They found themselves embedded in a community of support and solidarity. All this was destroyed, in front of their eyes, at Mayor Hancock’s order.

That being said, this action was not officially endorsed or planned by Occupy Denver. Participants in Occupy Denver are free to express themselves as they see fit, but no occupier speaks for another. There is a wide diversity of opinion within Occupy Denver regarding this action. If you have strong feelings about this or other Occupy Denver actions, please, GET INVOLVED! The success of this movement depends on people like you bringing your unique experience, insights, and ideas to the occupation.

Occupy Denver has the utmost respect for the work of the Colorado Homeless Coalition and admires their dedication to helping the homeless. It was never the intention of those who participated in this action to disrupt the vigil. If anyone attending the vigil who has lost a loved one was upset by this action, we offer our most sincere apology. To Michael Hancock, however, we offer no such thing.

The group of 10 representatives nominated and voted on by Occupy Denver’s General Assembly met with Chief White today for 45 minutes. It went as many expected. Chief White stated that the decision to forcibly evict the Occupation had already been made. Offers by Occupy Denver’s representatives to come up with creative solutions to the impasse – including a way for Occupy Denver’s residents to take charge of maintaining the park at no cost to the city – were rejected in the meeting.

It seems clear to us that the city’s actions are not really about protecting the public right of way but about the city and state government using minor municipal codes to restrict the people’s rights to assemble and protest. Chief White made clear that Occupy Denver continues to face a potential raid at any point.

We consider using the city’s scarce resources to enforce municipal code in this way to be a huge waste, something Occupy Denver has been trying to avoid. Considering the DPD’s reputation for police brutality, we feel it would be a shame for Chief White to start his relationship with the City of Denver in this way. If we are evicted, this will be the fifth time the DPD has forcibly removed the Occupation – a tactic which clearly has not been an effective resolution in the past. We urge Chief White and Mayor Hancock to reconsider their threats to evict us until they have made time and space to come together to find creative, peaceful, and constructive ways to resolve this impasse.

Considering the fact that many of the people who are participating in Occupy Denver are homeless and no safe alternative to living with Occupy Denver has been presented by the city, we question Mayor Hancock’s and the city’s commitment to addressing issues of economic inequality and human rights that the Occupy movement is protesting.

We will be holding a General Assembly tonight at 7pm in Civic Center Park to determine our response. We urge our supporters to help resist with their presence by standing in solidarity with Occupy Denver in Civic Center Park over the next few days. Help us show the residents of Denver that its citizens are not encumbrances, and that the people want to see Denver interacting with the Occupation in a more productive and cooperative manner.

This past Wednesday, Occupy Denver recieved an invitation to meet with the new Chief of Police, Robert White, to discuss our relationship. The same day, we also received a warning notice from the Department of Public Works stating that they would remove all encumbrances from the sidewalks between 10am and 2 pm on Thursday. Instead of meeting on Thursday, the Denver Police Department tweeted an invitation to meet with us on Monday. Occupy Denver’s response was that the Chief come to a General Assembly. Fearing imminent eviction due to “encumbrances,” many occupiers began working through the night to “encumber” the park as a protest against the threat.

On Thursday Chief White came to Occupy Denver to ask us to remove encumbrances and to meet with him on Monday. The general opinion on the ground was that if we were evicted there would be nothing to meet about. It was still unclear after Chief White’s visit if we would be evicted, so we held the grounds. Later that day, the Denver Post released a statement that “Public Works had backed off its plans.” It is still unclear if an eviction will take place over the weekend, possibly in the dead of night, so we urge our supporters to stand with us this weekend.

This is the first time we have successfully resisted an eviction by the state, but we also must remain vigilant and keep our numbers up over the weekend to ensure the safety of our occupation. If you can’t occupy with us, feel free to drop off food, water, and winter supplies. We are also accepting cash donations & paypal donations for legal support.

Today, The Department of Public Works began passing out notices to remove all “encumbrances” from the sidewalk along Broadway in front of Civic Center & Lincoln Park. The Department of Public Works claims that they will begin removing “encumbrances” at 10AM 12/15, on “Bill of Rights Day.” We call on all concerned Occupy Denver supporters to show up tonight @ 7PM to GA to determine Occupy Denver’s response.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, 30 Nov 2011

CONTACT: Occupy Denver PR

media-pr@occupydenver.org

DENVER:

Starting today and ending on December 3^rd, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is hosting a “States and Nations Policy Summit” in Scottsdale, Arizona. Many from Occupy Phoenix and around the region are expected to arrive in protest of this foul collection of legislators and corporate figures. Occupies around the nation are standing in solidarity with Occupy Phoenix against this corruption of our legislative system by private interests and money.

ALEC is a conglomerate of 2000 mostly conservative politicians and over 300 corporate figures, and is responsible for crafting over 800 prepackaged bills and resolutions behind closed doors. These templates are then passed to state legislators to adopt, with about a 20% adoption rate. This is a clear example of private interests GREATLY influencing the direction of our “legal” system and its grip on our livelihoods.

ALEC is responsible for the recently passed anti-immigration (and ultimately anti-Latino) bills passed in states like Arizona and Alabama. The enforcement of these bills are a direct attack on our Latino brothers and sisters, and enhance the surveillance and policing of Brown communities, while funneling money directly into the pockets of the Corrections Corporation America for building and managing private immigrant detention centers. Other bills created by ALEC serve to further privatize our educational system at the expense of our children, further expand the private prison system at the expense of predominately Black and Brown bodies, and restrict voting freedoms at the expense of low-income communities.

We condemn the infiltration of corporate funding of and influence on our “legal” system. It is clear that this corruption affects us all and it serves to disadvantage our freedoms. We call on protestors from Occupy Denver and around the nation to stand in solidarity with Occupy Phoenix and their actions against this perverse union between our legislators and private interests.

More information here:  http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed