(KCPW News) Occupy Salt Lake will have a new home in April. After spending the winter on the Gallivan Plaza, the city has offered the group a new location on Library Square. Interim Library Director Linda Hamilton says she’s not concerned with the move, and sees it as the library’s role to provide an opportunity for the public to have its voice heard.
“Part of the values of this library and all libraries is to promote free speech and essentially that’s what these folks are about,” she tells KCPW. “I will tell you we by and large have support from the board and from the tenants here, but not 100 percent support.”
Hamilton says the Gallivan Center is no longer a feasible place for the protesters because the upcoming summer season is the busiest time at Gallivan; however, the same rules will still apply.
“They can have no banners or signs or related kinds of things, they can have no cooking or cooking appliances, they can have no drugs or alcohol, they must stay within the approved footprint, they cannot drive motorized vehicles on the plaza, they cannot interfere with pedestrian traffic on the plaza and they cannot have fires,” says Hamilton.
The group will be permitted to have tents and have a 24 hour presence on Library Square, but will not be allowed to camp. Hamilton says the library has designated the eastern edge of Library Square for occupiers. The movement originally began at Pioneer Park, but was evicted by police after someone died inside a tent.
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