Occupy Baltimore seeks new goals after eviction
Downtown businesses and even some Occupy Baltimore activists themselves breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday that city officials cleared the encampment that the group had set up near the Inner Harbor as part of a national protest against income disparity.
"I think guests thought it was an eyesore," said Gail Smith-Howard, general manager of the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel. "I think the city did the right thing."
The protesters vowed to find new ways to channel their message, with some saying that after 10 weeks of occupation, the tent city had started to outlive its usefulness. "You don't need to be at McKeldin Square," said Cullen Nawalkowsky, 35. "You don't keep hammering on a tactic when a tactic is producing diminishing returns. The physical occupation is just one part of the broader movement."
In a largely non-confrontational pre-dawn raid, police roused the roughly 40 people sleeping in tents on the triangular park on Pratt between Light and Calvert Streets and gave them 20 minutes to leave. City officials said 23 people accepted rides to homeless shelters, and crews moved the tents and other belongings to the Western Sanitation Yard near Cherry Hill.
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