The chief of staff for St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says Occupy St. Louis encampments at a downtown park will have to end "sooner rather than later."
Jeff Rainford made those comments Tuesday during a mostly cordial meeting between city officials and about four dozen protesters. Slay's office has asked Occupy St. Louis protesters to stop camping in tents at Kiener Plaza, where they've been for several weeks.
Rainford says the city will likely give 24 hours' notice to protesters before requiring them to move out of the park. But he did not set a timetable.
Several of the protesters carried flowers or wore dollar bills taped over their mouths during the meeting, as you can see in the photo above.
![The Occupy St. Louis encampment at Kiener Plaza. Protestors are blasting Mayor Francis Slay for "heed[ing] the complaints of the corporate groups who control the city" in his effort to clear the Plaza.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/21f3b68/2147483647/strip/true/crop/600x397+0+2/resize/260x172!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkwmu%2Ffiles%2F201111%2FOccupySTL.jpg)
