Occupy Las Vegas movement finds spot to set up camp

By Aida Ahmed

Published Friday, Oct. 21, 2011 | 9 a.m.

Updated Friday, Oct. 21, 2011 | 3:11 p.m.

After negotiations with the county, the Occupy Las Vegas movement has found a fixed home and plans to start camping out today on a lot at the northwest corner of Tropicana Avenue and Paradise Road.

The group signed papers Friday morning to formalize the agreement with the county and started moving onto the site at 2 p.m., said organizer Gina Sully, who made the announcement.

“This is (our) first occupation parallel to Occupy Wall Street,” Sully said this morning.

The group has held marches in Las Vegas — including on the Strip and downtown — to protest corporate greed and the influence of money in politics.

"This space is what Zuccotti Park is to the original protesters in New York," Johnathan Abbinett, one the members who helped secure the location, said in a news release. "We require very little to get our voices heard, but a secure place to practice our first amendment rights is crucial. I hope this location will allow more citizens to participate in our movement. People are already calling it Occupy Park."

The lot where the group will set up is six to eight acres with space for protesters to sleep. The group had been fighting restrictions on sleeping in public places.

Sully said the group has more than 2,000 members. “We’ve had well over 1,000 people at each of the last three marches,” she said.

Sully said she can’t put a number on how many occupiers might be camped out Friday night because most will be coming and going.

The agreement allows the group to occupy the location for up to 30 days, around the clock. Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said there also is a list of conditions that must be met.

“They have to have Porta Potties and trash cans and Dumpsters,” Kulin said. “(They can’t start) fires and cannot build any building structures.”