About 150 people gathered for a general assembly Friday night to discuss the eviction notice, but the meeting degenerated as members shouted at one another over long-simmering internal grievances about how decisions were being made and by whom.
Members of one faction, representing a group of people who live at the tent city and said they spoke for the homeless, took over the meeting. They expressed their hostility to those who do not live at Dilworth Plaza and, in a few cases, physically menaced some people who tried to argue against them.
A group of about 60 people quietly fell away from the meeting and started a separate gathering on the other side of Dilworth Plaza.
Jacob Russell, 70, said the conflict was not surprising because the group is engaged in an "experiment" in direct democracy. "It's a steep learning curve," said Russell, who said his last job was teaching English at St. Joseph's University. "I think it's inevitable that there are divisions."
Russell said that he expected people to come together again, especially when the police arrive to evict them.
The conflict both exposed rifts in the Occupy movement and made clear that while many activists plan to avoid a conflict with the police, others are in a fighting mood - and that might carry into Sunday.
The relocation, Nutter said, will clear the way for a long-awaited renovation of Dilworth Plaza. With the permit approved Friday, Nutter said, the $50 million, two-year project will bring 1,000 jobs to the city in a rough economy.
It's a project "built by the 99 percent, for the 99 percent," Nutter said, alluding to Occupy's slogan, "We are the 99 percent."
