City Denies Occupy Baltimore Permit Request To Stay In McKeldin Square

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Time may be running out for the Occupy Wall Street protesters camped out in the heart of McKeldin Square. Baltimore may soon join other cities forcing them out.

Adam May explains their latest permit request has been shot down.

Occupy Baltimore protesters have been at McKeldin Square for more than two months now, and for the second time in those two months, city leaders put it in writing that they are not allowed to camp there overnight.

City officials have denied the Occupy Baltimore group a permit to stay in McKeldin Square.

"I'm a little skeptical about the rejection," Chyno, an Occupy Baltimore protester, said.

Protesters are left wondering if Baltimore will fall next. Occupy camps in Philadelphia and Los Angeles were cleared out this week.

Workers wore hazmat suits, concerned about health dangers.

For weeks, Baltimore's mayor has kept eviction an option.

"We continue to inform them routinely that camping is prohibited, with hopes we'll have some resolution to the issue," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said.

There's no question-- the tent city is dirty.

"You can see there's certain sanitation problems, but sometimes, freedom is messy," Rosalind Ellis Heid, a protester, said.

Ellis Heid lives in a luxury high-rise just a few blocks from the camp.

May: "And you support it?"
Ellis Heid: "I certainly do. Absolutely."
May: "Why?"
Ellis Heid: "I support people being able to go out and express outrage over what's happening to this country."

Protesters huddled in tents on this cold day. They say they represent the "99 percent"-- Americans who are not millionaires and who are victims of corporate greed and income equality.

Chyno: "We have doctors, nurses, two attorneys that stay overnight here."
May: "The general perception among most people is that you're homeless, making a mess."
Chyno: "It's hilarious. People ride by and they say, 'Get a job!' And I say to myself, 'I have a job! I have a good job!'"

Between 40 and 150 people are at Occupy Baltimore on any given day.