Police use rubber bullets and pepper spray on demonstrators as Occupy Denver protest turns ugly... Over 30 arrested in Portland and 38 in Austin as police crackdown
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:08 PM on 30th October 2011
A tense standoff between Occupy Denver protesters and authorities near the Colorado Capitol erupted Saturday with a surge of demonstrators being met with police force that included pepper spray and rubber bullets.
The clash came as Occupy Wall Street protesters and state officials in Tennessee squared off for a third consecutive night Saturday, even though a local judge has refused to jail demonstrators who have been arrested and said the state lacks the authority to set a curfew on the property.
In Denver, some supporters of the Occupy movement, marching with a group of about 2,000, tried to advance up the Capitol steps.
About eight officers scuffled with a group of protesters, according to The Denver Post, and police confirmed to the newspaper that they used pepper spray and rubber bullets or pepper balls to break up the crowd.
Denver police spokesman Matt Murray said protesters knocked an officer off his motorcycle and other officers were kicked by demonstrators.
Murray said seven protesters were arrested, including two for assault and one for disobedience, the Associated Press reports.
He said some demonstrators had received medical treatment on the scene, but no one had been taken to a hospital.
Mike Korzen, 25, said he was among the protesters whom police dispersed with rubber bullets and pepper spray.
'I was standing there with my hands behind my back,' Korzen said, using a water bottle to wash pepper spray from his eyes.
Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter of the Denver suburbs visited the protest site Saturday afternoon to try to calm protesters.
After the clash several protesters moved across the street to a park where a small encampment has been established.
A city street between the park and the Capitol was blocked by police cars and a Denver bus.
The clash came after a week of police crackdowns around the U.S. on Occupy activists, who have been protesting economic inequality and what they call corporate greed.
In Oakland, California, an Iraq War veteran was seriously injured during a protest clash with police Tuesday night.
In Atlanta, helicopters hovered Wednesday as officers in riot gear arrested more than 50 protesters at a downtown park.
In San Diego, police arrested a similar number of people who occupied the Civic Center Plaza and Children's Park for three weeks.
In Nashville, magistrate Tom Nelson has said there's no legal reason to keep demonstrators who have been arrested behind bars and he has released them after each arrest.
He has refused each night to sign off on arrest warrants for more than two dozen people taken into custody.
Protesters were galvanized by the friction between state officials and Nelson.
'My heart has been here all along, but the arrests gave me the momentum to come,' said Vicki Metzgar, 61, director of a Nashville Public Schools science and math initiative who joined the protests Saturday.
'This plaza belongs to us, not the politicians.'
Some legal experts agreed with the judge.
The arrests appeared to be a violation of First Amendment rights in the U.S. Constitution that allow for people to peacefully assemble, said attorney David Raybin, a former prosecutor.
He and others said the nature of the arrests, coupled with the judge's refusal to sign off on the warrants, could become ammunition for lawsuits.
'The government is exposing itself to serious liability here by doing this,' Raybin said.
The curfew at the Legislative Plaza, which state troopers began enforcing Thursday night, runs from 10pm to 6am.
Others questioned the timing of the curfew. The protesters had been demonstrating for about three weeks before it took effect, a point that Nelson said he factored into his decision.
'You can't pass a curfew mid-protest because you disagree with this group of protesters,' said criminal defence attorney Patrick Frogge, who is representing some of those arrested.
The state Department of Safety is carrying out the arrests. Commissioner Bill Gibbons, who until he joined the Haslam administration was the district attorney in Memphis, said he didn't have a role in developing the curfew but assured Haslam his department could enforce it.
Cecily Friday, one of the original Occupy Nashville protesters, said the administration's attempt to get rid of the demonstrators has 'completely backfired.'
'Over 1,000 people have been added to our Facebook page since the arrests,' she said.
Among those arrested Friday night was journalist Jonathan Meador, who told troopers he was a reporter covering the story for the Nashville Scene alternative newspaper.
On Saturday, the owner of the newspaper sent a letter to Haslam's staff.
'I expect the governor to publicly apologize to him for this violation of his rights and to assure the people of Tennessee that this administration will not interfere with the right to a free press that has been a fundamental right in this country since our founding,' SouthComm CEO Chris Ferrell wrote.
'I'm sure you understand that every media outlet in this country will vigorously defend our right to cover government action without fear of arrest or reprisal.'
In New York City, where the Occupy Wall Street movement began last month, a mix of snow, rain and slush made for sheer misery at the encampment in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.
Drenched protesters hunkered down in tents and under tarps as the plaza filled with rainwater and melted snow.
Technically, tents are banned in the park, but protesters say authorities have been looking the other way, even despite a crackdown on generators that were keeping them warm.
'I want to thank the New York Police Department,' said 32-year-old protester Sam McBee, decked out in a yellow slicker and rain pants.
'We're not supposed to have tents. We're not supposed to have sleeping bags. You go to Atlanta, they don't have it. You go to Oakland, you don't have it. And we got it.'
No comments:
Post a Comment