Zionist scum poster, stolen shopping cart, sleeping in at #OccupyDC

Sleeping bag in tent

Food lying on ground

Large rat trap and destroyed lawn

Well, I thought the squatters would have been cleared out of Farragut Square by now given the bill this lot is ringing up for us -- $300K in damaged public park land that no one else can use, out of control rats and other public health hazards -- but no, it seems to  be drawing ever more irrational aspects. Not only did I see a Wikileaks van driver communicating loudly from her van window with someone at the site, but also a guy holding a poster saying "expel all 5th column zionist agent scum and indict traitor US politicians."  Then I espied a "borrowed" shopping cart used by one of the squatters and despite this site purportedly being "a 24 hour vigil" which means it is NOT a campground where people are allowed to sleep overnight, it's clear there are sleeping bags in the tents and people are living in this park.  Living, not vigiling, that is, squatting now for months.  And the rats are still there too. Lots of large rat traps scattered about -- although I didn't see any rats today.  Although I did see lots of muddy torn up ground and food lying about that I am sure the rats will find tasty. I heard a passerby attempting to converse with another sign-holding man who whined "I have a Ph.D. in Psychology and I can't get a job, man," and when asked "Why don't you get another job or drive a cab or something?" he just answered "But I can't do that" and had a lot of excuses for why he wasn't going to take up anyone's suggestions for how to earn a living. A couple of hours later I passed the sight again and saw an unorganized crowd of people gathered at the doors of the nearby Sheraton hotel holding some hand-made signs.  A pedestrian informed me "they are from the park, you know, they are protesting something" and "the police said they had no permit and should stay on the sidewalk area but they keep crowding the front door area."  They were blocking the exit doors and looking it and it wasn't clear why they were there at all and I wouldn't be surprised to learn of some arrests.

Note shopping cart