All things considered, the Occupy Miami protests at Government Center in downtown have been relatively peaceful, and Miami-Dade County has been pretty lenient about dealing with protesters. Though, on Thursday they asked the protesters to move about 50 feet to the north lawn of the center while a crane was brought in to do maintenance on the building's roof. Now, the protesters have until 5 p.m. today to move back to their original location.
During last week's forced move, many protesters thought it was the first warning that Miami-Dade may eventually revoke their permits and kick them out of the center, though county spokepeople denied those claims.
"By no means are we trying to kick them out," said spokesman Thomas Martnelli last week. "We are asking them to temporarily move their location because we have a crane coming into that spot next week for an installation. Once it leaves, they are more than welcome to reapply for their permit to go back to the original spot."
Now, NBC Miami reports that the county is indeed asking protesters to move back into their original camp in the courtyard of Government Center.
"It has been peaceful so far and we hope to keep it that way," said Suzy Trutie, a county spokeswoman, tells NBC Miami.
Trutie says that the County has also been lenient on protesters even though they haven't always been prompt in filling out new permits every week.
In the meantime, on November 17th Occupy Miami protesters will be participating in a march on Brickell, the banking epicenter of South Florida.
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