Occupy told to exit park on Saturday, group says
PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Occupy Providence protesters said Thursday they have been given a midnight Saturday deadline to vacate the park where they have had an encampment against the city's wishes since October.
The protest group reached agreement with the city this week to suspend its encampment at Burnside Park when a temporary homeless day center it demanded opened its doors.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence said it would open the facility at Emmanuel House on Friday.
Protester Artemis Moonhawk said Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare visited Burnside Park on Thursday and told her and others they had to dismantle their tents by midnight Saturday -- which she said isn't enough time.
She said Pare suggested the city would "walk away" from its support for the day center if protesters were not out by then.
Pare wouldn't confirm a deadline but said protesters had been given one. He told The Associated Press the city was available to help the protesters remove debris from Burnside Park but only on Thursday and Friday. He said the details of a "practical departure" were under discussion with Miriam Weizenbaum, an attorney representing some of the activists.
He would not speculate on what would happen if protesters did not vacate the park by the city's given deadline.
"We've asked them to vacate the park," he said. "They had all week to start planning."
Mike McCarthy, another Occupy protester, said Weizenbaum told protesters they had through Sunday to leave. Many of the tents have been unoccupied for weeks.
Weizenbaum said the opening of the day center Friday is the "agreed trigger" for the protesters to leave the park, but that their departure would probably take through the end of the weekend.
She declined to say when Pare had indicated he wanted them out, but said she did not see any date as a "hard and fast" deadline. She said both sides have worked in good faith throughout their talks and that she expected that would continue.
The city ordered the protesters from the park in October, but they refused. The sides have been in mediation.
Occupy hailed its agreement with the city on the day center on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday, declaring victory. Protesters said they reserved the right to re-occupy Burnside or set up new encampments even despite the agreement.
Pare said the city would deal with that if and when it happens.
Michael Guilfoyle, a diocese spokesman, said crews have cleaned a second-floor space at Emmanuel House and moved in chairs, tables, desks and computers for visitors to use. The facility is expected to accommodate between 35 and 50 people a day.
While the city helped facilitate the center's opening, officials said they would not provide funding.
The diocese said funding for the center is still being resolved.
