PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Occupy activists in Portland, Ore., vowed to expand where they protest after the mayor told them to focus on their goals instead of the real estate they occupy.
"I hope in its next phase of growth it gets back to its core mission. The Occupy movement is not about expanding the takeover of local parks in cities like Portland where the mayor and the City Council are very supportive of the founding purpose of Occupy Wall Street," Mayor Sam Adams was quoted in The (Portland) Oregonian as saying.
"If this becomes about picking fights with local governments that are generally supportive of its founding purpose, I think it will lose its way," he said.
Cameron Whitten, 20 -- among 27 Occupy Portland activists arrested in a heated encounter with police early Sunday for refusing to leave a city park after a midnight curfew -- said protesters intended to expand their efforts beyond their downtown encampment in the wealthy Pearl District's Jamison Square park.
"Now we realize this is not just that park," Whitten told The Oregonian. "You've got Colonel Summers, you've got Holladay Park, you've got Piccolo Park, you've got Overlook Park.
"Each one of those has their own crowd" to which the movement can direct its message, he said.
City officials had no immediate response.
Meanwhile, Austin, Texas, officials asked activists to appoint leaders to work out new rules for the occupation after police arrested 30 men and seven women early Sunday for violating new rules forbidding a food-distribution table at the encampment from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The food table does not violate city ordinances, but officials thought prohibiting it would weed out troublemakers who have infiltrated the protest, Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald was quoted in the Austin American-Statesman as saying.
Authorities have received complaints about public urination, drug use and public sex in the City Hall encampment, Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
City leaders said they wanted Occupy Austin protesters to appoint leaders because negotiating with the amorphous group has been difficult, Acevedo said.
Working with a steering committee of occupiers would allow for more consistent, efficient decision making, he said.
The Occupy Austin activists had no immediate response.
In Tennessee, Occupy Nashville protesters arrested this weekend for refusing to leave a public park after curfew were freed by a judge who said the state had no authority to impose the curfew.
Gov. Bill Haslam's administration imposed a curfew in the encampment park citing safety concerns, and police took 29 activists into custody early Friday and then 26 more early Saturday.
But Night Court Magistrate Thomas Nelson let the activists go both times, refusing to sign arrest warrants for which he found no legal basis.
Nelson said the state changed the rules midstream, without giving the protesters time to apply for permits.
"For three weeks they've sat up there and protested, under no admonition whatsoever that they are violating state policy with regard to camping out ... or that they are committing a crime," WKRN-TV, Nashville, said Nelson told a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer. The highway patrol made the arrests.
"When the state issued its memorandum imposing a curfew and changing the rules, right in the middle of a protest, they can do that, but they have to give them adequate time to comply with those rules," he said.
The highway patrol issued a statement Sunday saying "the curfew remains in effect."
The ACLU of Tennessee said it would file a lawsuit challenging the curfew, The Tennessean reported.
