This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 7, 2011 - Occupy St. Louis, which has been occupying Kiener Plaza for weeks, today upped the ante in a growing dispute with Mayor Francis Slay and his staff, who want the protesters to leave.
The group, which is protesting economic inequality, today issued a statement refuting last week's general assertions from the mayor's office. Occupy then listed its own complaints against the mayor, citing business tax breaks and his firing several years ago of former Fire Chief Sherman George, among them.
Among other things, Occupy contends that accusations of uncleanliness and public urination are untrue, and it asserts that Slay is bending to the wishes of downtown businesses, who have complained about the protesters' continued presence.
The mayor's latest call for them to leave, said the group, shows that he is more receptive to "the complaints of the corporate groups who control the city,'' than to the general public.
Said Occupy St. Louis' statement, in part:
"Occupy St. Louis is one of many cities that exist as a solidarity movement with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which formed to publicly attest to the fact that corporations control far too much of our economy and political life....How ironic, then, that Mayor Slay has decided to stop listening to the complaints of the people and instead heed the complaints of the corporate groups who control the city. This week, Downtown Partnership met with the mayor's office and told him to shut us down. He responded to their call. No more fitting example could illustrate who is pulling the strings."
"The Occupy St. Louis movement is further disappointed that the mayor has chosen to hide behind false accusations to sway public opinion and to indicate that he has spoken to Occupy St. Louis," the statement continued. "There has been no conversation from the mayor's office to Occupy St. Louis, only blog posts" by the mayor. (Read the mayor's response on his blog.)
As for for the uncleanliness assertions, "Anyone is welcome to come to the site to see that this is not true. The occupiers have done a remarkable job of maintaining a clean and orderly space...."
Port-a-potties have been at the Occupy site for weeks, courtesy of one of the area's unions. Occupy says none of its participants have engaged in public urination, which the statement calls "obscene,'' adding that any violators could be homeless who frequent Kiener anyway and have nothing to do with the protest movement.
Click here to read Occupy's complete statementand list of alleged grievances.