Occupy Richmond Defends Tea Party in Tax Row

Who says Tea Partiers and Occupiers can’t get along? Occupy Richmond has issued a statement defending the Richmond Tea Party, which the city recently said was behind on its taxes. “Given the duplicitous and violent manner in which the city government chose to raid our peaceful occupation, it would not surprise us if the recently announced city audit … were retaliation for their criticism of the Mayor,” the statement says, calling audits a “weapon oppressive regimes use to silence dissent.”

The Tea Party has in the past complained that Mayor Dwight Jones has favored Occupy in her interpretation of city ordinances, but the city has since raided the camp. A Richmond Tea Party spokesman tells Reuters that the group has “never really had any kind of beef with the Occupy people,” and is glad to have its support. The mayor says the tax notification was a routine, automated notice.