CHARLOTTE, N.C. After hundreds of protesters marched the streets of Charlotte’s uptown Sunday, a few dozen retired to their makeshift encampment at Marshall Park.
Around 12:30 a.m. Monday, several people slept in their tents or in sleeping bags on the ground. Others sat together in small groups, talking or strumming a guitar.
Hours earlier, they’d marched in a two-hour protest in 92-degree heat. The March on Wall Street South, a largely peaceful event, drew about 800 people with concerns ranging from the environment to the economy. Only two people were arrested.
About 30 tents had been pitched at the park at South McDowell and East Third streets late Sunday, and many people were resting up for a week of demonstrations during the Democratic National Convention. An officer in a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police cruiser sat in a nearby parking lot.
But some protesters ventured back to the city’s business district, where they began flashing images on the side of the Bank of America Corporate Center on North Tryon Street around 11 p.m.
Police nearby said the protesters used a projector to display the images. It wasn’t immediately clear what those images showed. But the person or people responsible soon moved on.
An Occupy Charlotte member said protesters display the images by connecting a projector to a computer, which is carried in a baby stroller.
Police presence remained strong overnight in uptown, where restaurants and clubs were busy into the early hours. Police continued to block several streets, including Tryon Street, where CarolinaFest will begin Monday.
Police have been monitoring the group of protesters staying at Marshall Park but have made no moves to clear them out despite a city policy that prohibits camping in county parks.
Local officials have not given explicit permission for the protesters to camp in the park but have said that police have the discretion whether to enforce the ban.
One Occupy Charlotte member said protesters plan to continue camping through the end of the DNC.






