Politics & Government
Occupy Movement Sets Its Sights on Valley [VIDEO]
Protest demonstration organizers reportedly are making plans to set up camp outside government centers in Van Nuys.
Even as Occupy L.A. protesters begin to wear out their welcome at City Hall in downtown L.A., organizers are planning another open-ended campout on city property—this time in Van Nuys, the Los Angeles Daily News reported Friday.
Occupy San Fernando Valley is to set up camp at the Van Nuys Civic Center, beginning Saturday, after a march and rally during the day to protest corporate greed, the Daily News reported.
"We saw a lot of people [who] still do not know about the movement in this area," Amber Barrera of North Hollywood, an organizer with Occupy San Fernando Valley, told the Daily News.
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Although the city advised the group it would be breaking the law by staying in the area past 7 p.m., protesters told the newspaper that at night they plan to sleep in the plaza, which is bordered by several city, federal and state buildings, a library, a police station and the Van Nuys Superior Court.
Protesters have been meeting between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. this week outside the courthouse as they finalize plans for the occupation, but police so far have not forced them to leave.
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"They haven't been disruptive or anything," Los Angeles police Sgt. Darryle Lewis told the Daily News.
When asked if the police would allow the protesters to sleep in the area overnight, he replied: "The mall closes at 7 p.m., and we're going to hold them to the law."
(Attached is a video by Sherman Oaks Patch Editor Doug Kriegel, which was shot at the downtown Occupy L.A. site last week.)