Occupy Davis Has Left, But Some Campers Remain

Last week, Occupy Davis formally announced that they would be and continuing their mission beyond 24/7 occupation.

“24/7 occupation has been a valuable tactic for us so far, and an immensely successful strategy for the wider occupy movement," the said in an email. "But now we intend to set aside continuous occupation…”

The massive tarp came down, tables were folded up, and the site was dismantled -- kind of. 

If you walked through earlier this week, you’d have seen several tents in the park. As of today, one tent remains. The occupants of these tents affiliate with Occupy Davis. 

At least one occupier is concerned, based on a recent email: 

I drove down to [the] park to check out [the] situation ... I asked if they were calling themselves Occupy Davis. They said yes … I asked if they knew that the group had reached consensus about leaving the park. They said yes but they were choosing to stay.

"These are homeless tent city squatters using the Movement as a shield," one commenter on Davis Patch said Thursday. "They have no respect for the GA decision to leave temporarily, or the threats of citation ... Cops will cite after a warning, remove their stuff, and eventually arrest on bench warrents cause these jokers are never going to ay the fines."

Police have approached the remaining campers and given several warnings. 

“They could get a citation,” Lt. Paul Doroshov said today. “Regular patrol officers could give them a ticket, but we don’t have any plans of going out there.”

Many community members have grown tired of the camp in the park, according to Doroshov. He said the police department has had to weigh the right to expression with the need to follow the ordinances and the public’s feeling about the camp.

“We were getting a flurry of complaints about it from the public,” he said. “They could receive an infraction for the city code violation, kind of like a noise violation.”

As for the campers who remain: 

“There are literally four tents and just a few people,” he said. “We don’t know if that’s really an occupy movement, or just campers.”

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