On October 15, 2011, hundreds of protesters marched on the North Avenue Bridge over I-43 in Milwaukee. They gathered in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. 

By November 25, only 10 or so protesters were at the Occupy Milwaukee encampment in Garden Park. I could only find two protesters that slept there overnight.

When asked what the most amount of protesters have been sleeping at the camp site, protester Joseph Carriveau said about 15 with a disappointed look on his face. He has been with the Occupy Milwaukee movement since September.

He is currently homeless and has been without a job for six years now. Before he became homeless, Carriveau was in door-to-door sales.

Now he is here, in part, to protest Scott Walker.

“The movement isn’t specifically about the recall of Scott Walker,” Carriveau said, “but we do want him out of office because he represents pretty much everything that’s unhealthy with the relationship between big money and the way government policies are made.”

The Occupy movement in general has been widely criticized for not having a singular message. However, Occupy Milwaukee seems to mostly focused on private company’s control on politics. 

But Milwaukee’s protesters have larger, local problems.

Nightly raids by police have lead to the decline of protesters staying overnight. Police have been waking them up, usually around one am. 

“They came through here late last night to order us to get rid of all of our shelter cause they said they got orders from their Sergeant, who no doubt will say he got orders from his Commander, who got orders from his Captain, who eventually will just stop answering questions,” said Carriveau.

The police raids along with weather may be why the Milwaukee movement has lost its momentum.With temperatures dropping into single digits at night, those who are able to stay inside, will. 

Carriveau said he has been unable to stay at a shelter because the waiting lists are so long.  After police took away his tent on night, he caught pneumonia and couldn’t afford to see a doctor. 

“As long as they’re choosing to put people at risk, rather than [letting them] have tents in public… they’re putting me at risk and that makes them not my ally. They’re definitely my enemy as long as they’re risking my health.”

The raids have continued nightly, which is why the Occupy Milwaukee movement has been nearly abandoned. Garden park now has empty tents and left over waste, but no protesters.

The group is sticking together despite its dwindling numbers. They will continue to have General Assembly meetings.

Since he is homeless, it is near impossible to contact Joseph Carriveau. You can try contacting Occupy Milwaukee on their official page regarding his interview.