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By Anslem Samuel | Published November 16, 2011 | Full size is 620 × 480 pixels

No Snoozing In Public Most cities have an anti-camping ordinance on the books that prohibits camping or sleeping in public spaces, particularly public parks, to minimize the risk of nighttime criminal activity. But the ordinances are frequently used to cleanse cities of the inconvenient and uncomfortable scenery of homeless people; police in San Francisco are known for enforcing the city's camping ordinance primarily against the homeless. But now, all over the country, anti-camping ordinances are being used to arrest and deter protesters from occupying public spaces. Due to a city ordinance that prohibits sleeping in Los Angeles public parks, Occupy LA activists move their tents to the sidewalk every night, and move them back to the park every morning. Occupy Chicago protesters have resorted to staying awake in shifts, then switching with one another to sleep in cars or someone's home nearby to get around the ban against sleeping on the public sidewalk.

No Snoozing In Public
Most cities have an anti-camping ordinance on the books that prohibits camping…

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