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Fingers of approval wiggled in the air as a speaker called for the censure of Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and Police Chief Chris Burbank.
It was a different kind of public hearing Tuesday, as nearly three dozen Occupy SLC devotees descended on City Hall to complain that Saturday's eviction from Pioneer Park was mishandled and "morally" wrong.
"Mayor Becker stole our home," said Sharon Anne Wade, who was "arrestee No. 17." She said she now lives in her car with her dog and implored the council acknowledge the plight of the homeless.
Others argued their free-speech rights were squelched and their "fundamental right" to shelter stripped away.
"When I saw my tent scooped up with my belongings in it and dragged to a dump truck — this was a chilling experience," said Raphael Cordray, who owns a home and the small business Free-Speech Zone, "which is pretty ironic."
"Is this what people in Palestine must feel like? To see their property bulldozed — it was sickening," she said.
Several attendees said they were arrested Saturday when police cleared Pioneer Park after a six-week occupation that mirrored a nationwide protest movement targeting the banking system, corporate greed and Congress. Burbank had given protesters a day's notice, and the sweep was nonviolent.
It came on the heels of a death at the park that appeared to be caused by a drug overdose. "That homeless man was a drug addict — there was a needle in his arm," Tobiah Barney told the council, technically assembled as the Redevelopment Agency Board. "Why would you stop an entire organization because of one man's problems?"
After the hearing, the Occupy SLC protesters marched to the other end of City Hall and sat in a circle outside the lifeless and locked mayoral offices. A half dozen city police and security officers patrolled the hallways before asking the residents to depart at 9:15 p.m. Nobody resisted.
During the hearing, some accused Becker of being complicit with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who admits 18 cities were consulting on Occupy crackdowns during a conference call last week.
"Was Mayor Becker on that phone call in a conspiracy to chill people's First Amendment rights?" asked Lionel Trepanier.
Becker, who won re-election in a landside last week, is on vacation. His spokesman, Art Raymond, insists neither the mayor nor any city official was on the conference call. He says the decision to close the protest camp had been brewing for weeks because of health concerns and mounting evidence of drug and alcohol use in the camp.
"The city will continue to accommodate free-speech activities within the appropriate time, place and manner restrictions," Raymond said. Occupy protesters still may assemble at Pioneer Park and the Gallivan Center plaza but the permits to camp overnight were revoked.
Joe Cohn, interim legal director at ACLU of Utah, said shutting down an "overwhelmingly peaceful" movement after one tragic death was an "overreaction."
"Salt Lake City is a liberal city," Nicholas Trambley told the council. "We need to set an example for the rest of the state and our conservative suburbs that we take care of our homeless."
Social worker Lindsey Wells called the public-safey-and-health-risk argument a "cop out," and the same line used against Jews before the Holocaust. "That's very scary."
"I'm a taxpayer, and I want to camp," added Deb Henry, noting the New York City Council has opposed Mayor Michael Bloomberg's edict to clear Occupy Wall Street from Zuccotti Park. "You have an opportunity to do that."
Councilman Soren Simonsen, who invited Occupy SLC to City Hall, said he'd like to see the council at least talk about taking some action, perhaps penning a statement or making tweaks to ordinances that could address the Pioneer Park eviction.