Hamilton County Sheriff’s and Chattanooga Parks & Recreation employees relocate the last Occupy Chattanooga tent from the Chattanooga Courthouse grounds to the sidewalk Monday afternoon.
Over the 45 minutes it took for county workers to haul protesters’ belongings from the Hamilton County Courthouse lawn to the city sidewalk, members of the Occupy Chattanooga movement questioned the sheriff and video-recorded the removal of their 133-day encampment.
“This is out of nowhere; we had no notice whatsoever,” said James Parks, 27, an Occupy protester who came to Chattanooga a month ago.
When reached by phone late Monday afternoon, Hamilton County Commission Chairman Larry Henry said he didn’t see any reason to give the protesters advance notice.
“I think we’ve been very lenient here in Hamilton County. They’ve been on our county property for five months,” Henry said. “I don’t see that giving them any notice, that they would have heeded it.”
Occupy’s 14 tents and other belongings were moved onto the Georgia Avenue sidewalk alongside the courthouse. Sheriff Jim Hammond said the lawn was being closed for beautification ahead of the building’s centennial celebration in September.