OccupyDC’s overnight construction of a large wooden structure in McPherson Square ended two months of relatively peaceful coexistence with the District’s police, who said that the building appeared to be a permanent structure and was therefore illegal. OccupyDC said that they were building it to protect themselves from increasingly cold weather. Protesters defied repeated orders to abandon the building and take it down — setting the stage for a day long standoff — which ended in 31 arrests and the destruction of the building by the Park Police.

Tensions escalated throughout the afternoon, as some protesters tried to break through the police line to join other occupiers in the newly constructed wooden building.

D.C. Park Police push back crowds with horses as they set up a perimeter around the newly constructed building and the protesters within it.

OccupyDC protesters refuse to leave the shelter, creating a day long standoff with the Park Police.

After sunset, OccupyDC protesters watch as the Park Police begin to arrest demonstrators who refused to leave the newly constructed building:

A lone protester awaits to be arrested as he sat on top of the wooden building Occupy DC constructed in McPherson Square:

–Lucian Perkins

PHOTOGRAPHS by LUCIAN PERKINS / facingchange.org