BREAKING: "McGinn yanks ‘Occupy Seattle’ permit for Westlake"

Chris Grygiel (seattlepi.com):

The City of Seattle has revoked the permit issued to “Occupy Seattle” allowing protesters to have an informational tent at Westlake Park, Mayor Mike McGinn said Friday.

Police arrested 10 protesters who refused to take down a tent Thursday night. Protesters have been gathering at Westlake for more than a week. The City has encouraged them to move to City Hall Plaza and has said that camping at Westlake will not be permitted. Businesses have complained about the protests, part of a national movement of people objecting to Wall Street excess, being staged in the heart of Seattle’s Downtown shopping district.

“After working with Occupy Seattle for a week, the City was able to grant them a permit on Wednesday for protest activities in Westlake Park, including an informational tent. Consistent with other events, uses of this tent were limited to handing out information, first aid, and prepackaged food. This permit was issued and signed two days ago. Yesterday we warned them that they were violating the terms of the permit. We reissued the permit to be more explicit, and Occupy Seattle accepted the new permit and the new conditions,” McGinn said in a statement.

“Occupy Seattle violated the terms of the permit again last night. The tent was actively used during hours when the park was closed between 10 PM and 6AM, and numerous items not related to the permitted purpose of the tent were stored inside overnight including an operational propane tank. These are violations of the detail provisions as well as the overall intent of the permit. Staff informed the people responsible for the tent this morning that the permit was being revoked and that the tent was to be dismantled. People with Occupy Seattle dismantled the tent without incident. We will not be reissuing a permit for an informational tent at Westlake.” MORE...