The Department of Administration said Tuesday it expects Occupy members to observe the deadline and “leave the Capitol Annex property in the condition in which they found it.”
Gov. Butch Otter signed House Bill 404 on Tuesday, banning camping on the Capitol Mall and other (non-campground) state properties. The state says campers on the grounds of the old Ada County Courthouse must leave by 5 p.m. Monday.
Occupy Boise attorney Bryan Walker asked a federal judge for a temporary restraining order to stop the eviction. He’s also filed a lawsuit alleging Otter and others have violated the civil rights of Occupy Boise participants.
A phone conference with U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill has been set for 3 p.m. Friday.
Department of Administration personnel hand-delivered copies of a formal removal notice to the Occupy Boise encampment Tuesday afternoon.
Any property left after the camp is vacated will be stored by the Department of Administration for 90 days, according to the state. Notices will be placed at the old courthouse with instructions on how and where property can be retrieved.
Occupy Boise set up its camp Nov. 5.
In its suit, Occupy Boise alleges the state’s action to remove the tent city Downtown violates members’ rights to freedom of speech and assembly guaranteed under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. They’re asking the court to find the new state law unconstitutional, saying it applies after the fact.
“The defendants are applying a brand-new state law ... three months after their peaceful assembly began,” the suit says. “This post hoc law is not addressed to regulating any abuse of the freedom of assembly, but is being applied to disperse and end the plaintiffs’ lawful assembly.”
The suit also alleges the law takes property without just compensation and would violate members’ constitutional right against unreasonable seizure of property by the government
Occupy Boise participants say they will continue with regularly planned meetings and events at the vigil site.
Among complaints by legislators and critics is that the Boise camp is an eyesore. A Dec. 8 Slate magazine article, however, described the local encampment as “the best organized occupation out of the two dozen we have visited across the country.”
Arun Gupta, a New Yorker writer and co-founder of Occupy the Wall Street Journal, said in Slate that she had come to Idaho expecting “a sad affair cowering in the shadows of police repression and reactionary aggression.”
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
