The reoccupation of the Octagon in Dunedin looks set to continue indefinitely, although tents will come out only when there is a big point to make.
"Tents are used as speech. We will put one up as we feel something needs to be bigger," TC, an occupation participant handing out fliers in the Octagon, said yesterday.
She said the occupation continued, but in a different format.
One or more people would be present in the Octagon or other parts of Dunedin most days with placards or fliers, and there would be a general assembly, rain or shine, in the Octagon at 7pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
On Monday, a tent was put up on grass roped off by the Dunedin City Council to help it recover after the original 66-day tent occupation of the Octagon.
The tents and people using them caused nearly $4000 damage to the grass, council staff said.
Occupiers said the tent was put up on Monday in support of a fellow occupier they believed was scheduled to appear in the Dunedin District Court that day on a wilful damage charge related to his putting up a tent in the same spot during the original occupation.
The 49-year-old man did not appear, but is expected to appear next Tuesday.
Council community and recreation services manager Mick Reece said it remained to be seen whether a tent would reappear in the Octagon next Tuesday.
He said if it did, the council's first port of call would always be the police.
The police were called on Monday and Inspector Greg Sparrow said officers did speak to occupiers.
It was unclear whether that discussion had any relationship to the decision to later take the tent down.
Yesterday, two people handed out fliers on one corner of the Octagon, outside the cordoned-off area.
The fliers said Occupy Dunedin was considering setting up a garden somewhere in Dunedin for teaching people about their food and how to grow it.
