In cities all over the world, Occupy movements have started tent cities in their local parks causing many of which to be evicted or arrested. Whenever even a handful of tents appear in a park, Denver authorities have lately been responding with extreme force. And despite the opposition, protesters continually come back to their local parks in hopes of being able to erect tents again. Ever wonder why the tent so important to the occupiers?
Occupy Denver has put together a video that explains the protesters position on why the tents are crucial to the movement, both symbolically and practically.
One unnamed protester in the video says, "Denver is now going to spend over a million dollars because of tents, for a fine that was probably less than 100 dollars. If [the city] would instead invest that money into the local community they could house all of the Denver homeless population for a year. But instead, they decide on this: riot police, they're going to tear gas us, they're going to hit us with batons."
Last week, it was reported that the city of Denver has already spent $360,000 for two weeks of police action against Occupy Denver. DPD then asked for an additional $200,000 to help cover more costs. Fox31 reported.
Another anonymous protester says, "If you're not allowed to have tents in the middle of a housing crisis -- for a lot of us that shows you're not allowed to have anything unless you have considerable amounts of resources -- then you’re just going to be left out in the cold, literally."