Occupy Denver has announced that they will be holding a sleep-in tonight at 9:30 p.m. at the Pavilion on 16th Street Mall in protest of the preliminary passage of a measure that would ban homeless "camping" in the city. Critics of the measure, like the Colorado chapter of the ACLU, say that it simply criminalizes homelessness.
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If passed, the ordinance would make it illegal for anyone to sleep in sleeping bags, tents, or other constructed outdoor shelters anywhere where camping is unauthorized, like: alleys, sidewalks, public city parks or outdoor malls. Namely, where some of the city's homeless bed down for the night.
In a press statement, Occupy Denver said this about the "unauthorized" camping ban [sic]:
Last month, the "anti urban camping bill," which is being pushed through the city council by the Downtown Denver Business Partnership left committee and will go to vote on 5/14. After what we heard last night at the forum on the bill, it is clear that many of our elected city council officials are placing the needs of business entities over the needs of the actual people. According to this bill's chief sponsors, AKA the vendors on the 16th st mall, there is little expectation that this will actually solve their problem. We are in the midst of the worst economic crisis we have seen since the great depression. As joblessness and foreclosures soar, more families are put into the streets, we are confused that ANY city council would support a measure like this in the midst of The Great Recession. The right to shelter is a human right. Rather than attack the symptoms of a problem, the business partnership and their proxies in government aim to make it illegal.
Beginning at 12:00 p.m. and continuing on through 9:30 p.m., the Denver occupiers have rolling teach-ins, rallies, marches, live music, performance art, spoken word poetry and much more throughout the day at Civic Center Park. Watch the various rallies, teach-ins and marches live above, via Occupy Denver's livestream from Brett Starr.
For the series of rallies and marches today, Occupy Denver is joined by the Denver-Boulder branch of the International Workers of of the World (IWW) in this call for a general labor strike. The IWW has released its own statement on the May 1st strike call:
As the recession has deepened, wealth and power have been funneled into the hands of the few. We can no longer afford the rich and powerful or tolerate this system that creates them at our expense. Police, militaries, immigration enforcement, and corporate banks have attacked our communities and movements. We can no longer survive without control over our lives and our society. We will not be silenced. The time has come to show those in power that our demands for equality and justice must be met.
May Day is a national holiday in many countries around the world and is typically celebrated with marches and street demonstrations by working people, according to Mother Jones, but has not been as widely observed in the United States.
Occupy organizers are hoping that May Day could be a reboot for the movement. Marissa Holmes, an Occupy Wall Street organizer, spoke with Mother Jones saying, "May Day will be the big kickoff of Phase 2 of Occupy. I think we'll see a lot of people in the streets taking more militant actions than they had in the past."
The May Day general strike in Denver has the endorsement of more than a dozen organizations in Denver and Colorado including The Denver Handmade Homemade Market, Colorado Progressive Coalition, Clean Slate Now, CPUSA, Colorado Anti-Violence and more. Denver's Mercury Cafe will be closing its doors in support and celebration of the general strike on May 1st.
Occupy Denver has a full schedule of events planned for the May Day "general strike" beginning with a noon march that starts at Civic Center Park.
For a full schedule of Occupy Denver May Day events today, click here.
LOOK: Protesters gather for May Day in Denver
Occupy Denver -- May Day
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