Forum Post: Occupiers are not campers

Occupy LA has released a statement regarding the use of public space http://occupylosangeles.org/?q=node/861, but I wanted to add a little to this after what happened in Oakland last night. Occupiers are not camping. We are assembling for a political purpose. Local ordinances which prohibit camping are anti-homeless ordinances and DO NOT apply to First Amendment assembly rights guaranteed under the Constitution. There is also a state ordinance regarding blocking sidewalks "(California Penal Code 647c) providing that every person who willfully and maliciously obstructs free movement of any person on any street, sidewalk or other public place is guilty of a misdemeanor DOES NOT REQUIRE PROOF OF SPECIFIC INTENT TO VIOLATE THE LAW; one acts maliciously, within meaning of this section if he deliberately and intentionally obstructs a street or sidewalk." This is essentially a blank check for local police to arrest anyone in pubic, anytime, for anything. I believe other states have similar ordinances. By allowing this kind of law to stand we participate in our own oppression. We are no longer standing for this. Mayors and police are incorrectly interpreting and using these local laws to be applied in a national context. They are wrong. Our response to the attempted enforcement of such laws should be that they do not apply in the context of a peaceable, political assembly guaranteed under the First Amendment.