And the American taxpayer is footing the bill.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Some “Occupy” demonstrators who’ve clashed with police in New York City have migrated south as the new year begins, joining their colleagues in the nation’s capital where authorities continue to allow protest camps at two locations.
“We’re here because we got pushed out of New York, but we’re also here because this is the heart of where all politics happen,” said a protester who would not give his name. “Police know me,” he explained, as he tried to repair a tarp torn free by high winds early Monday. […]
Among the questions being asked include those from a ranking U.S. congressman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, demanding to know why protesters have been allowed to make camp in the first place. Issa, in a letter two weeks ago to the U.S. Department of Interior, said he believes the camping is illegal.
But the National Park Service, which is in charge of McPherson Square, has applied the most liberal interpretation of rules against overnight camping, and officials instead consider the makeshift tent city a “24-hour vigil.
A handwritten bulletin board maintained by the protesters Monday noted it is “Day 93” of the demonstration there.
At a second location in Washington, known as Freedom Plaza, the National Park Service in recent days extended a required permit through the end of February, acting just before it was to expire on New Year’s Day.
The extension may further provoke Issa, who chairs a House panel on government reform. His December 13 letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressed concern that the tent city in McPherson Square has ruined some of a $400,000 restoration project at the park, paid for with economic stimulus money.