I had been intending to get here for awhile, but finally managed to. Franklin Park, where Occupy has been conducting most of its activities.

Yeah, it was pretty hot. The water table was a busy and popular place.

More tents and gatherings.

The Veteran's Encampment was able to remain on site a few more hours by being under the annual Mumia Abu Jamal event.

But at 6:00pm, our permit expired and we had to start breaking it all down.

Many hands made light work and we soon had it all broken down and moved off.

Setting it all back up. We moved it all one block North, so that we faced the National Conference Center as opposed to the Independence Visitor's Center.

New setup.

I headed over back to Franklin Park, where discussion circles were in progress. Would we have done better by moving our encampment to the park? That was the subject of much heated discussion, but we settled where we did.

A veteran talks about his life since returning from the Iraq War.

The audience listens carefully.

Chilling and hanging out at the Veteran's tent. As fellow Veteran Occupier Bill Perry says: "From the U.S. Veterans' Encampment @ the Occupy National Gathering, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA"
I got word when I arrived that our permit would expire in a little over an hour and that we were expecting an eviction. All the Veterans were determined to stay put.

Our group grew a bit over the next 40 minutes or so.

But by nightfall, it was clear that word had gotten out and our group swelled in size. Perry: "Call National Park Service 215.597.9205, and please FAX NPS at 215.597.0042 DEMAND that our Vets be allowed to continue camping at the First Amendmet Monument, on July 3 & July 4" Perry's Facebook page

Bill Perry made the announcement that he had gotten us a extension and that we wouldn't be thrown out after all, at least not yet.

Occupiers from Franklin Park came over to join us to be in solidarity and to support us.

And we got the party started!        Video clip 1      Video clip 2

The veteran's tent gets jazzed up further with even more flags. Stopped off at the Friends Center where OccupyCafe was being conducted with members having open, free-range discussions.

The other side of the veteran's tent. I saw a few Occupiers in the vicinity, but not very many.

Crowd of Occupiers, stopped for a moment.

A more close-up view. I think they were yelling at a bank.
A video clip of this scene.

On the move again.

Chillin' and relaxin'. As I was preparing to leave, I heard about trouble between Occupiers and police (As someone pointed out, there are all kinds of authorities and agencies with people on the scene).  Occupiers are not permitted to erect tents, but sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags appears to be authorized,. Well, it seems that the Occupiers were trying to erect tents anyway. A young veteran came over to the veterans tent a little while later, spitting and fuming about his buddies "picking stupid fights" with authorities.

Homemade flag, made from a piece of yellow cloth and iron-on designs and letters, produced in just one day.