A meeting Tuesday between Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and protesters from Occupy Denver accomplished little — with the mayor reiterating that they cannot camp overnight and protesters saying they want to have a 24-hour occupation.
Four protesters who were elected to represent the Occupy Denver movement met with Hancock in his office, which both sides say opened the lines of communication.
“We will honor their right to peacefully assemble and free speech,” Hancock told reporters after the meeting. “We ask them to observe the laws of the City and County of Denver.”
A city ordinance and state law prohibits camping in the parks near the Capitol and says that people are forbidden in the parks between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Hancock said the protesters are welcome to stay on the sidewalks outside of the park, but they may not camp there.
“We have thousands of people who permit our parks every year,” Hancock said after the meeting. “We simply cannot and don’t want to set a precedent that we have to continue to follow with everyone who wants to be in our parks after 11 p.m. or pitch a tent in our parks.”
The four protesters said the demonstration is supposed to be a 24-hour occupation and the protesters need to sleep. They also said they want to be able to have a kitchen in operation 24 hours a day.
“We have the right to peacefully assemble,” said Amy Marschad, a protester.
However, court decisions side with Denver’s camping ban.
In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Clark, Secretary of the Interior vs. Community for Creative Non-Violence that prohibiting camping in certain parks doesn’t violate the First Amendment. In that case, protesters were prohibited from sleeping in Lafayette Park and the Mall in the heart of Washington, D.C., to demonstrate about the homeless.
“We have been abiding by the law,” said Occupy Denver protester Paula Fedyk. “Our work with the mayor will continue and will be about meeting the basic needs of the people who choose to assemble, so we’re talking about things like food, water and shelter for the assembly.”
