10 Feb 2012 Conservatives Rally for Liberty and Free Market at Occupy D.C. Encampment

Permit in Hand, Conservatives to Share Freedom Plaza with Occupy D.C. for the Next Five Weeks

Washington, D.C. – Conservative activists are planning to “take back the park” on Monday, February 13th when they will hold a rally that kicks off five weeks of noontime events in the eastern section of Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza. The rest of the park’s space is home to an Occupy D.C. encampment.

The National Center for Public Policy Research’s permit allows the organization to hold events in the eastern third of Freedom Plaza every day from Sunday, February 12 until Thursday, March 15 and between the hours of 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM eastern. The first event of many — dubbed “Occupy Occupy D.C.” — will be the noontime rally on the 13th.

Freedom Plaza is located at 13th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

“We have the same First Amendment rights as the Occupiers and any legitimate petitioner has for access to our nation’s public sites. This is what makes America great,” said National Center Executive Director David W. Almasi, who is organizing Monday’s rally. “We will be making the case for economic freedom and American exceptionalism from Monday through the ides of March, sayings things that have not been uttered in that park for some time but should resonate with every American — even the Occupiers.”

This is the first known occurrence anywhere in America where conservatives have successfully applied for and received a permit that rolls back the sprawl of an Occupy encampment.

“The ‘Occupiers’ are fundamentally undemocratic,” said National Center Chairman Amy Ridenour. “They want the public to agree to whatever it is they want, even though they can’t or won’t articulate it, or else they’ll commit crimes, infest cities with rats, cost police overtime and refuse to go away. Blackmail, essentially. We are standing up for liberty and free speech within the law. We’ll make our point, go home to beds we paid for ourselves every night, pick up our own trash, follow the law and be content that in a democratic republic such as our own, voters make the ultimate decisions, not a bunch of blackmailers.”

Speakers on Monday will include officials from the National Center for Public Policy Research and FreedomWorks. The event will be emceed by National Center media fellow and nationally-touring comedian Steven Crowder.

The National Center For Public Policy Research (https://nationalcenter.org) is a conservative, free-market, non-profit think-tank established in 1982. It is supported by the voluntary gifts of over 100,000 individual recent supporters, receiving about one percent of its revenue from corporate sources. Contributions to it are tax-deductible.

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