JOIN USA tent city that is among the longest-lived Occupy protest encampments in the US is coming down as part of a new wave of eviction orders against demonstrators aligned with the movement in communities, including Miami, Washington and Pittsburgh.
Occupy Maine demonstrators removed several large tents over the weekend, and the city yesterday gave them additional time to remove the rest.
Demonstrators who established the encampment just two weeks after the Occupy Wall Street encampment set up shop in New York City in mid-September vowed to continue their work to call attention to corporate excess and economic inequality.
"Just because the occupation is changing form doesn't mean it's going away," Heather Curtis, one of the campers, said yesterday before she started hauling away her belongings from snow-covered Lincoln Park.
The encampments that were the heart of the movement are becoming scarcer.
A judge yesterday issued what appeared to be the final notice for Occupy Pittsburgh to leave.
Over the past week, police began removing demonstrators in Miami; Austin, Texas; and Washington, DC.
The voices are still making themselves heard, though. About 20 demonstrators disrupted a legislative budget hearing yesterday in Albany, New York, shouting that millionaires should be taxed more.
Albany's camp was busted up in December. Occupy Maine, which already has office space elsewhere in Portland, plans to continue getting its message out through other means, as well.