Woodruff Park to close for repairs of protest damage

By Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Woodruff Park will be closed next week for work crews to repair damage that city officials said was done by Occupy Atlanta protesters.

Enlarge photo

Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com Around 200 Occupy Atlanta members gather in Woodruff Park for the latest news on Oct. 17, 2011.

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The downtown park will be closed for up to two months, AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB reported.

Parks Commissioner George Dusenbury told WSB that the park will be closed for at least two months.

He told the station that repairs to the park's damaged irrigation and electrical systems will cost more than $30,000.

Dusenbury said the park "took a lot of abuse" during the encampment by the protesters, which began on Oct. 6 and culminated in the arrests of 52 protesters as police cleared the park 20 days later.