The National Park Service said Tuesday that it will enforce the ban on camping at the long-standing Occupy camp in McPherson Square for the first time in four months, but that doesn’t mean Occupiers are going to be evicted anytime soon.
Protesters will be allowed to maintain their 24-hour vigil in the park as long as they sleep elsewhere, NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis said. Occupiers are free to remain in the square overnight, but could face U.S. Park Police citations if they try to get some shut-eye.
Jarvis told members of a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee Tuesday that he plans to give Occupiers a warning before enforcing the ban, but enforcement would begin “soon.”
Still, he defended the park service’s handling of Occupy and said he didn’t take immediate steps to enforce the camping ban because it could “incite a reaction that could result in possible injury.”
“The NPS has employed a reasoned, measured and incremental approach to address regulatory violations … while respecting First Amendment activities,” Jarvis testified.
The House panel is investigating why Occupy DC has been allowed to remain in McPherson Square since October even though the tent city that sprung up there would normally violate the ban on camping in the federal park. The park service said the Occupy camp is a “24-hour vigil,” which is exempt from the camping rule, though Jarvis acknowledged some protesters have violated the ban by sleeping in the park.
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who initiated the probe of Occupy DC in December, told Jarvis he was called to testify at Tuesday’s hearing “because you have turned a blind eye to four months of law-breaking.”
“There’s a clear requirement to prohibit camping,” Issa said. “I feel the park service has entered into an ideological fray on behalf of this administration.”
Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., charged that the park service was accommodating the Occupiers only because the Obama administration was ordering it to do so for political reasons. Jarvis denied that, saying all decisions about Occupy were being made by Park Police on site.
District officials who appeared before the House panel, including Police Chief Cathy Lanier and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Paul Quander, said the Occupy protesters have cost the city more than $1.6 million, including $63,000 for ambulance services alone, which the District wants the federal government to reimburse. Quander read off a list of problems that have emerged at the campsite, including a rat infestation and hypothermia risks.
Democrats on the House subcommittee expressed support for the Occupy movement. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., questioned why the hearing was being held at all.
Occupiers, who weren’t allowed to testify but had a statement read into the committee record, said they were pleased with the hearing and don’t expect to be forced out of the park.
Protester Adrian Parsons, who recently completed a 25-day hunger strike for D.C. voting rights, said he was encouraged that officials like Jarvis defended Occupy.
“When money, corporations and lobbyists are free speech; the occupation is easily free speech as well,” he said.
