A storm is brewing at the Occupy LA encampment in downtown Los Angeles - and we are hearing about it all on Twitter.
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Many thought Monday would be the day Occupiers bid farewell to their City Hall encampment, as an enforced closure was announced by Mayor Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck on Friday. And yet, only 4 arrests later on Monday, the camp stood strong and the LAPD decided not to force eviction.. just yet. The LA Times reports "in the three days after the announcement, about 50% of the tents have been taken down, and many of the women and children that had been sleeping at the camp were gone." And yet most Occupiers have remained at City Hall throughout Tuesday. Some are even up in trees, where it's harder for LAPD to bring them down.
Tonight however, Twitter is buzzing with Occupiers rallying the troops and passing around time-sensitive information about the supposed-raid:
And..
Joan Donovan, an organizer with Occupy LA told HuffPost that earlier today, "cops were counting tents, basically doing a census. We have a few people living in trees right now," she said. "I'm sure that's a safety concern they will want to take care of." In regards to what is anticipated for this evening, Donovan said: "We're fairly certain that the cops are coming in tonight. They are massing buses at Dodger Stadium...We had a guy bike over there to double confirm."
Prepping protestors for an LAPD raid this evening, one Twitter user wrote:
Technology has played a large role in the Occupy Wall Street protests - most noticeably in instances of shocking police aggression or brutality. One Twitter user wrote:
There appears to have been a 45-minute delay on Twitter search for #olaraid and #OccupyLA - which Occupiers are asking to get fixed immediately.
Other Twitter users offer support to the now 200+ reported protestors at the Occupy LA camp:
PJ Davenport, an Occupy LA activist and organizer, tells The Huffington Post from the encampment that there is "media across the street, and they have been given a line they can't cross." Davenport estimates 250 people are down there right now:
"It's tentative. There's a lot of nerves in the air. Many people are sad. Some people are confused by the fact that there's an injunction to stop this eviction and the LAPD is not going to allow the judge to hear the injunction. We hope that when the LAPD and the Occupiers come face to face tonight, they'll see the humanity in each other."
Davenport tells us that there is talk of a raid at 8:30pm PST.
Jason Cherkis contributed reporting to this piece.