U.S. Park Police removed Occupy DC’s information tent from McPherson Square Thursday, arresting one protester in the process.
The information tent – one of the few structures still standing in McPherson after a police raid nearly two months ago – was taken down because, police said, they found sleeping bags, clothes and suitcases inside. That’s a violation of McPherson Square’s camping ban, which forbids protesters from sleeping or storing sleeping materials in tents.
Park Police also removed the group’s “university tent” from the square.
Protesters said the Occupier arrested was Georgia Pearce, 28. Police said she had interfered with the tent’s removal, but protesters said she was simply trying to retrieve her belongings from the tent.
Park Police have regularly patrolled McPherson Square since they began enforcing the camping ban there in February, and protesters say they no longer sleep in the park as a result. The information tent was removed briefly during an enforcement action in early February in which police seized nearly all the tents in the park, but protesters set up a new tent shortly afterward.
According to Park Police regulations, tents necessary for organization or promotion of the movement’s cause are allowed to remain in the park. Protesters said police had seized personal belongings and various documents from the tent Thursday.
Park Police briefly inspected the remaining tents in the park around midday.
