yanchong

Snow and cold weather hit “Occupy Wall Street” at Zuccutti Park: October 29, 2011, a rare snow storm rolls into the Northeast confining most ows protesters to their tents.

Wall Street protesters around the country, who are vowing to stand their ground against the police and politicians, are also digging in against a different kind of adversary: cold weather.

With the temperature dropping, they are stockpiling donated coats, blankets and scarves, trying to secure cots and military-grade tents, and getting survival tips from the homeless people who have joined their encampments.

Mayor Bloomberg hopes the onset of winter will finally convince “Occupy Wall Street” to pack up the tents and tarps and go home.

OWS protesters protect themselves under tarps and tents as the first harsh weather hits the camp.

More than a month and a half into the movement, Occupy Wall Street activists from New York to Colorado have pledged to tough out the snow, sleet and cold as they protest economic inequality and what they call corporate greed.

Dangers of staying outdoors in some of the country’s harsher climes are already becoming apparent: In Denver, two protesters were hospitalized with hypothermia this week during a storm that brought several inches of snow.

Architects are working with ows to consider the options of creating dry, warm and deflatable shelter to get them through the winter. The question is: “will there be time?”.

Some movements are scouting locations indoors, including vacant buildings or other unused properties, possibly even foreclosed homes, though some question the wisdom of holding a protest outside the public eye.

NYPD escorts an ows march through the rain, snow and wind in lower Manhattan.

PHOTOGRAPHS by ANTHONY SUAU / facingchange.org