These people take themselves way too seriously.
(The Washington Times) — U.S. Park Police moved into McPherson Square on Sunday to force Occupy D.C. protesters to remove a wooden-frame structure that was to become a meeting house, and members of a SWAT team have entered the encampment.
At least 26 people have been arrested, according to Occupy D.C. organizers.
Some of the Park Police officers are on horseback and are joined by a special weapons and tactics team from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Protesters are sitting on the structure’s rafters and beams. Police are asking the protesters to stop hurling water bottles over their heads.
Members of the black-clad SWAT team entered the square at about 2 p.m. to talk to protesters. They reportedly have began putting on their shielded-helmets but have yet to bring out their semi-automatic rifles.
Police are also setting up metal barricades, and protesters are carrying milk, which supposedly helps relieve the sting of pepper spray in the eyes.
“We wanted to reclaim the geometry.”
(WCP) — As the cold descends, McPherson Square’s occupiers have kept busy figuring out how to keep themselves comfortable. A key part of that planning came together last night, in the form of a one-room building that’s been called a shed, a barn, and most often simply a “structure,” for the purpose of holding general assemblies and serving as an emergency shelter.
That was one infraction too many for the Park Police, who have been arresting people and surrounding the square with vehicles all day; occupiers on the roof have donned gas masks in anticipation of being pepper sprayed. At the time of this posting, most of those gathered in the incomplete frame have been carted away.
I’m more interested in the building itself, though. It’s an elegant design, with walls that lean out to create a very roomy-feeling interior. According to one of the architects, Cecelia Azurduy, the shape is symbolic, rather than structural: It’s called the “People’s Pentagon,” mimicking the headquarters of the U.S. military. “We wanted to reclaim the geometry,” she says.