Demonstrators prepare for winter weather

Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

Wall Street protesters around the country who are vowing to stand their ground against the police and politicians also are 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.

“Everyone’s been calling it our Valley Forge moment,” said Michael McCarthy, a former Navy medic in Providence. “Everybody thought that George Washington couldn’t possibly survive in the Northeast.”

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.

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

The activists also know full well that the number of demonstrators likely is to drop as the weather gets colder.

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.

Lighting campfires probably is out of the question in most places because of safety regulations.

Boston’s Occupy movement, which has roughly 300 overnight participants and could face some of the most brutal weather of any city with a major encampment, has set up a winterization committee that will try to obtain super-insulated sleeping bags and other winter survival gear. Activists from the movement’s flagship encampment, consisting of hundreds of people in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, are sorting through packages arriving daily that include coats and jackets.

They also are trying to rethink operations after authorities on Friday hauled away gasoline cans and six generators being used for the kitchen, emergency lights and media equipment. Mayor Michael Bloomberg called them a safety hazard.