Portland committee recommends ending overnight protest

PORTLAND - Officials in Maine's largest and most liberal city have long embraced the ideals of tolerance. While other cities around the nation have employed tear gas and pepper spray to remove Occupy Wall Street protesters from their encampments in recent weeks, Portland has offered dialogue.


But citing concerns about public safety, Portland officials appear to be losing patience.


The City Council's Public Safety Committee voted 3-0 Thursday night to recommend that the council reject Occupy Maine's request for a permit that would allow it to continue its encampment in Lincoln Park.


The vote came after a five-hour meeting that included more than two hours of public testimony in the packed City Council chambers.


The council will vote on the permit at a special meeting Wednesday.


Occupy Maine will submit an amended permit application to the City Council, said John Branson, an attorney for the protesters. He said the group's encampment is an expression of political speech, so it is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.


"I am disappointed," he said after the vote. "I assured my clients that we weren't being set up for a predetermined outcome."


City attorney Gary Wood told the Public Safety Committee that a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in Clark v. Community for Non Violence, said the National Park Service could prohibit camping by homeless protesters at Lafayette Park and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., without violating their First Amendment rights.


Councilors Ed Suslovic, John Coyne and David Marshall, who make up the Public Safety Committee, voted to deny the permit for Occupy Maine.


Coyne said the movement has moved away from its original political mission and turned the city's oldest park into an eyesore.


"The city manager was able to let you guys occupy for a while, but it has gotten too much," he told members of the movement who attended the meeting.


Suslovic said the city would never allow a landlord to maintain a dangerous building. Likewise, it should not allow Occupy Maine to continue its overnight encampment.


"What I see in front of us is a public safety disaster," he said.


Marshall appeared to have mixed feelings. He said he could not support the permit proposal as written but would like the protesters and the city's staff to continue working on it.


The 3-0 vote came Thursday night after a five-hour meeting that included more than two hours of public testimony.


The council will vote on the permit at a special meeting Wednesday.


John Branson, a lawyer for the protesters, says he intends to submit an amended permit application to the council. He maintains that the encampment is an expression of free speech and constitutionally protected.


City officials have raised safety and health concerns over the encampment in Lincoln Park.


One member of the committee called the encampment a "public safety disaster."


Police say there have been 16 arrests at the park connected to the protest.


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