Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in the Zuccotti Park encampment awoke on Saturday morning to a cold, steady rain and temperatures hovering just above freezing.
By JESS BIDGOOD and ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
Published: October 29, 2011
Continuing a week of crackdowns across the country, 26 Occupy Nashville protesters were arrested early Saturday, the second such roundup, for trespassing. And for the second night running, a judge dismissed the protesters’ arrest warrants, according to an official for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
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Police officers handcuffed protesters early Saturday morning at Legislative Plaza in Nashville.
Magistrate Tom Nelson said he could “find no authority anywhere for anyone to authorize a curfew anywhere on Legislative Plaza,” according to The Tennessean. The protesters had been under a 10 p.m. curfew.
But a different set of challenges to the movement began to emerge on Saturday, namely, winter.
In the Northeast, a storm bearing strong winds and wet snow rolled up north. This early storm promised to be a test that the protesters’ camps have vowed to endure.
Just before noon, snow began falling in Zuccotti Park in New York, mixing with rain. Hundreds of protesters inside the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York crowded under two long tarps suspended above a kitchen area where food is distributed.
Near the center of the camp, Christopher Guerra sat at the information desk, a plastic table stacked high with pamphlets. Mr. Guerra was covered by a green umbrella and a yellow rain poncho. In addition, he said, he was wearing a leather jacket, a sweatshirt, wool pants, two pairs of long underwear and two pairs of wool gloves.
“All I need now is a blanket and I’ll be O.K.,” he said.
Behind him, the park was a sea of tents, tarps, plastic sheeting and beach umbrellas. Rain coursed over the granite surface of the park, soaking into bedding and sending a chill into the bones of those sleeping there. Some protesters turned black plastic garbage bags into raincoats.
In Boston on Friday night, campers strung up extra tarps and tried on donated gloves, as organizers talked of coming workshops on staying warm in the cold, and of bigger plans, still in the works: Hot water “caravans,” and greenhouselike structures made out of PVC piping. Organizers at Occupy Portland, Me., said they had built a large room, with heaters, to weather the storm, and are asking the city for permission to stack hay bales to break the wind.
There is concern in the movement that the effort needed to stay warm — for this storm and those to follow — could eventually be a drain on the movement’s intellectual energies; and, of course, on its numbers.
“As the weather turns, we’re thinning down slightly,” sad Rene Perez, a 25-year-old piano technician at Occupy Boston. There is a growing consensus, he said, that, at some point, the occupation would need space indoors. “Some of our functioning is going to have to be off site,” Mr. Perez said. “It’s too cold.”
But lessons could be learned from Denver, where a snowstorm that hit last week — which organizers said sent five protesters to the hospital — became another tool of protest. Online postings urged followers and supporters to bring supplies, and then to call the governor and mayor to express outrage for allowing conditions to persist that protesters said were dangerous.
In Albany, organizers said their most urgent task was to move tents away from tree branches. They said they were prepared for cold, with lots of blankets and a patio heater (though it broke for a time Friday, spurring a plea on Twitter for anyone with experience repairing valves or thermocouples).
In spite of the looming storm, Occupy Albany planned a busy day on Saturday, inviting protesters from around the state to visit for events that were to include a history-themed walking tour of the capital and a poetry slam.
For those planning to stay overnight, organizers planned lessons about cold-weather safety. Among those gathered in the park were several camping enthusiasts used to dealing with frigid conditions, who were ready to offer advice.
“We have plenty of blankets to go around,” said Robert Magee, 27, a lawyer who brought to the park a sleeping bag that was rated at 0 degrees. He added, “In Albany, we’re pretty used to cold temperatures. I think of it as a good thing. It’s a good test run for what’s going to come later.”
Reporting was contributed by Jess Bidgood from Boston, Robbie Brown from Atlanta, Kirk Johnson from Denver and Thomas Kaplan and Colin Moynihan from New York.
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