EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Occupy Eugene continues to clear out the camp site at Washington Jefferson Park as the group is now discussing its future steps as a protest.
“We've gotten a huge amount of stuff out of here, if you think about it, it's Christmas Eve afternoon, and we've still got volunteers on site, doing clean up rather than wrapping presents or shopping or having a meal with a family,” said Doug Sabin, an Occupy Eugene protestor.
Occupy Eugene protestors continued to clean out the Washington Jefferson Park camp on Saturday, December 24th, 2011. Four days after Eugene City Councilors voted to immediately end the “no camping” ordinance extension for the protest group, the park is now mostly cleared out.
Nearly all of the structures are gone from the park and only a couple tents remain, along with a couple people still staying in the park.
While some are staying in the park, the majority of people have vacated. A protestor who took to a tree on Thursday evening came down from her perch on Friday afternoon without incident.
Eugene Police has yet to set a deadline for anyone remaining in the park.
Meanwhile, Occupy Eugene members are looking to continue their protest in the area. The group has held several meetings in the old “AAA Appliance” building on 7th and Polk, a building protestors are calling the “Occupy 5 Building.” Saturday, protestors met to discuss the planning phase of what happens next with the movement now that it is no longer in the Washington Jefferson Park area.
Protestors hope to continue their message.
“There's actually more people willing to volunteer because they see there is a problem that they can address and help with. So I am expecting that St. Vincent de Paul will have a lot more volunteers for their facilities and others of that nature,” said Sabin.
A fence that Eugene Public works put up on Friday morning still surrounds the park property Occupy Eugene was camping on. Eugene Police are still only allowing people inside who are helping to clean up the park and who have identification.
