'Occupy Maine' Protesters Make Art to Appease Police

The Portland, Maine, wing of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement had to get creative to keep their protest legal—literally. On Sunday, police told the would-be occupiers that they didn’t have a permit to erect a tent in Portland’s Monument Square, but the next day police came up with a solution: Each protester could claim four square feet of space to “make or sell artwork”—in this case painted protest signs, the Bangor Daily News reports.

The protesters say they plan on sticking around for the long haul, and intend to bring food and medical supplies to the site. “This isn’t just a protest, this is an occupation,” said one protester, a student from the University of Southern Maine. So far it is not a large group—only around 100 showed up Saturday afternoon—but protesters aren’t discouraged. “We had more people at our first general assembly than they did on Wall Street,” one said. (More Occupy Wall Street stories.)