Well, asked nicely anyway.  Pretty please.  As typical in The Olympian, the headline says one thing, the body of the article says another.

Occupy Olympia campers told to leave

State officials called on Occupy Olympia protesters Friday to voluntarily remove their tents from the monthlong camp at Heritage Park, citing a growing number of police calls there for drugs and violence.

Joyce Turner, director of the state Department of Enterprise Services, personally asked the campers to leave Friday afternoon, said Steve Valandra, a spokesman for the department. He said Turner made the decision that morning to shut down the camp. There were no confrontations, he said.

“We’ll accommodate their free speech activities,” he said. “We just feel like the tents have got to go now.”

Valandra said there’s no deadline for people to leave, and there’s no plan for what to do with the campers if they don’t leave. He said the state will re-evaluate the situation early next week.

“We don’t want a confrontation,” he said.

How about a fine?  Or make them take down the tents when they’re not sleeping in them?  Nah, no consequences. Why, if they don’t abide by them, there might be a confrontation!  One leetle question: isn’t fear of a ‘confrontation’ admitting that these people might not be so peaceful as they claim?

But. But, they have signs!  Rules for behavior!

Berd Whitlock, an Occupy Olympia participant, said the camp is against aggressive behavior and is asking for the community’s support. The rules of the camp are posted on a sign: no illicit drugs, alcohol, dogs off leash or violence and aggressive behavior.

So, that’s OK then.  I, too, have those same rules posted in my house.  Also: no pooping on police cars, rapes, murder, theft, or antisemitism. You just can’t expect people to behave unless you post the rules.  Funny, though, how they expect their people to obey their rules, at the same time they’re deliberately disobeying rules and laws that apply to everyone else.

So, how do the Occupiers respond to being told asked nicely to leave?  Exactly as the Tea Party would, of course:

Get the picture?  They want a confrontation.  That’s what the whole camping thing is about.  A way to get publicity — and what better way to publicize their cause than to provoke a ‘confrontation’, with all the violence that implies.

And time is getting short.  Mother Nature is apparently starting to play ‘Occupy Olympia’ too:

Residents of the camp had other worries Friday: strong winds that blew away tents as a storm front blew in.

“I cannot imagine that people would agree to voluntarily leave, like as a camp,” Whitlock said. “I think the weather is a bigger threat than the letter from Joyce Turner.”

So our wonderful civil servants who are trying so hard to avoid a ‘confrontation’ are just putting off the inevitable, and costing taxpayers more by doing it.

How is this not terrorism?

UPDATE:

More here:  Occupy Olympia asked to pack up after assault, drug arrests

State officials asked Occupy Olympia protesters Friday to remove dozens of tents from a lakeside park, saying the makeshift community they’ve established is unsustainable.

The Department of Enterprise Services said there are escalating public safety concerns at Heritage Park. The Washington State Patrol has listed a variety of reported problems at the site, and authorities have arrested one person for assault and three people for possession of drug paraphernalia.

UPDATE 2:

Drove by this afternoon around 4:00 pm.  They’re still there.  The soggy tents are anyway — saw no people.

Put a new Occupy Olympia weather widget in the sidebar!   99% wet today.