Occupy Philly Eviction Protest

November 27, 2011

1–2 minutes

Just a few photos from tonight’s Occupy Philly eviction protest… I didn’t see any cops evicting anyone, however, there were about half as many tents as I’ve seen there before, so perhaps they were bugging people earlier in the day.

Also heard from a few friends that cops were surrounding Rittenhouse park to prevent the Occupy Philly people from moving there.

Not sure what will happen in the next few days, but this movement’s got a BUNCH of momentum, and I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon.

One response to “Occupy Philly Eviction Protest”

Joseph Rose

November 28, 2011 at 10:17 am

This really isn’t the place for a debate about ‘occupy’, but I was struck by the idea that “the movement’s got a bunch of momentum”.

My most recent experience with the protesters was this past Friday (Black Friday). First, who am I? I’m a single, work from home, father of a 4-year-old boy with autism. I do letterpress printing and sell my goods to whoever I can.

On this Black Friday I was set up with a table at 18th & Walnut, right at the entrance to Rittenhouse Square. A parade of over 100 Occupy protesters continued to come up Walnut Street, and all around the Square several times throughout the afternoon. They had a huge silly sign about capitalism, but they also had signs telling people to “BUY NOTHING TODAY”.

Who exactly do they think they are protesting against? The just-scraping-by single father trying to make a living as they march by telling people NOT to by what I’ve made? In that case, they’re fucking assholes. If I don’t represent the 99% I don’t know who does.

As for their momentum, I’ve been reading about record-breaking Black Friday sales this year. Apple, who has a store right there near 17th & Walnut, had a particularly huge day on Friday. So maybe they should march every Black Friday, it seems to make people shop and spend even more money than usual. As for me, I had a very good day luckily, and no one in the park seemed to give a shit about the dredlocked people with poorly made signs.

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