Occupy Pueblo Expands

Occupy Pueblo continues to grow and protesters said Saturday they plan to start a seven-day-a-week occupation.

It came after protesters met with police Friday to talk about an around-the-clock protest. Police weren’t keen on that idea, but granted protesters a permit to occupy overnight from Saturday into Sunday in Sister Cities Plaza on Grand and Union avenues.

“We’re going to be having future discussions about when we want to occupy it again for a 24-hour period,” said protester Alvin Rivera.

For now, protesters said they hope to make Sister Cities their new headquarters and be in the park during the hours it’s open to the public, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Some are still hoping to eventually go 24 hours on a permanent basis.

“I feel like it should be 24/7 all the time,” said protester Rachel Donohue-Dupler. “That’s what other places are doing in other cities and whether or not that will happen here is to be determined.”

Pueblo Police Chief Luis Valez said he was happy with the meeting he had with protesters and the compromise reached. He said he made his views clear on a permanent occupation.

“I told them that would certainly cause the leadership team in Pueblo to come together very quickly if they wanted to do that,” said Valez. “I’m not sure that would be something that could happen on an indefinite basis.”

Protesters said for now, their biggest priority is being accessible, not sleeping on the streets.

“There are a lot of people who aren’t on the internet and we want to have an educational process and have a central location so they can come down and get information too,” said Cheryl Moore, a protester.

Occupy Pueblo has a website and a Facebook page .