Madison officials have signed off on a Capitol Square encampment. Unofficially dubbed ‘Walkerville’ and to be located on street terraces on the Carroll and Mifflin Street sides of Capitol Square, the encampment is intended as a protest against Governor Scott Walker’s state budget. A city commission has granted a permit to the group We Are Wisconsin, with the provision that any tents must be taken down during the day. We Are Wisconsin intends the encampment to remain in place through June 20th and a spokesman for the group has said campers could number in the thousands. Area merchants have greeted the news with mixed reactions: while bars and restaurants reported brisk sales during earlier protests against the governor and Republican legislators, other business owners say the protests drove down patronage.
