Steve Story mows the lawn as Occupy protesters remain on the sidewalk Wednesday at the Hamilton County Courthouse on Georgia Avenue.In an Occupy Chattanooga General Assembly meeting Sunday, protesters voted to end their 24-hour sidewalk demonstration alongside Georgia Avenue, a news release by Occupy Chattanooga said.
The group now vows to move into "Occupy Chattanooga Phase II," which involves a call for federal investigation into their eviction from the Hamilton County Courthouse lawn, the news release said.
On March 19 the "Hamilton County sheriff's deputies surrounded the Occupy Chattanooga protest camp, forced protesters off the lawn, searched the property of protesters and then moved the protesters' camp to the Georgia Avenue sidewalk," the news release said.
Protesters were moved to allow maintenance of the courthouse yard.
According to the news release, they were given no warning and questions regarding what law and whose authority the eviction was under went unanswered, the news release said.
Occupy Chattanooga Phase II will consist of "taking the protest directly to the faces of corporate America in our city," the news release said.