Occupiers Prepare to Sleep, as Occupy Santa Cruz Ends Its First Day

The afternoon at San Lorenzo Park saw periods of rain, and people under the tarp were making signs together while musicians were singing and jamming. A group of about 15 people set out for a march downtown in order to attract more people. A visit by two park rangers from the City of Santa Cruz resulted in the telling of the group that the tarp that was tied to the branches of four trees near the lawn bowling area had to come down. The group collectively decided to take it down as a total of five officers from the SCPD arrived. The tarp came down without event.

During the entire day the area of occupation was visited by the homeless people who live in San Lorenzo park, and both major meetings featured a variety of comments made by homeless people, though in general, their statements were blocked.

The general assembly began at 6pm and eventually led to the decision by the group to change the location of the occupation to Mission Plaza starting Friday morning. The location of the march was also changed to Mission Plaza. A sergeant from the SCPD listened in early on at the meeting for an hour or two.

After most of the group had left, a late supper consisting of soup and veggies was made. At 11pm two people appeared to be sleeping, and about a dozen more were sitting in a small circle and talking. They all planned to stay the night and eventually sleep. Chris Doyon, aka Commander X of Anonymous, who was a Peace Camp 2010 participant, set up a place to sleep for the night.

For an account of what happened earlier in the day, see Bradley Stuart's article and photos:
Occupy Santa Cruz Begins at San Lorenzo Park
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/10/06/18692385.php

Friday's Occupy Santa Cruz march, which begins at 3:30pm, will leave from the Santa Cruz Mission and travel to the major corporate banks of the downtown.

For more info about Occupy Santa Cruz and Occupy Wallstreet, see:
http://occupysantacruz.org/
http://occupywallstreet.org


Alex Darocy
http://alexdarocy.blogspot.com/

Feel free to re-use these images.