Contact: press@occupyde.org
November 7, 2011
Occupy Delaware says Constitution trumps park fees
Insists tents are protected symbolic speech
City threatens arrest as Democrats Dine at Jefferson-Jackson
WILMINGTON, DE. The constitution trumps park fees, says Occupy Delaware at its General Assembly held at noon today in Peter Spencer Park, in response to a news release from the Wilmington Mayor’s office requesting a “permit fee.”
Nonetheless, the city has suggested to Occupy Delaware’s legal team that the group may be subject to arrest if it does pay the fee or move out of Spencer Plaza onto the sidewalk tonight. Delaware’s Democratic Governor Jack Markell and Wilmington’s Democratic Mayor James Baker may be dining at the annual Jefferson Jackson fete while Wilmington police, on their orders, are dragging their fellow citizens away. This would be a clear violation, insists Occupy Delaware, of their rights to peaceably assemble for a redress of the their grievances, specifically that the wealthiest one percent dominate the national agenda.
After considering all sides of the issue in its emblematic process of proposals, questions, concerns, straw votes, and consensus, the group decided that permit fees were unnecessary and would be an impediment to the right to assemble protected by the constitution.
Citing the case of Community for Creative Non-Violence v. James G. Watt in the DC US Court of Appeals (1983), Occupy Delaware pointed out further that tents must be permitted as “symbolic campsites reasonably related to first amendment activities.”
Additionally, Occupy Delaware approved a cancellation of a Sheriff’s Sale tomorrow at 10 a.m., a moratorium on foreclosures across the nation, and a comprehensive plan for implementation.
The group also planned some public demonstrations during the day and a showing of the film “Inside Job” at 7 p.m. in Hanover Presbyterian Church, 1801 N. Jefferson Street, Wilmington.
The group planned another general assembly this evening at 6 p.m.
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