Within a days from each other, city governments across the country have taken steps to evict their local Occupy movement from their encampment. NY, LA, Philadelphia took similar steps. Although the reasons might different from city to city, the tactics were similar and the three city government prohibited overnight encampments.
My opinion: the city governments are giving the appearance of protecting free speech. In practice, the impact of those measures is to not allow a permanent visible presence of the Occupiers.
My opinion: the city governments are giving the appearance of protecting free speech. In practice, the impact of those measures is to not allow a permanent visible presence of the Occupiers.
Here is the account of what happened at Dilworth Plaza as experienced by Occupy Philly:
THE ARRESTS — (when the Occupiers were evicted from Dilworth Plaza)
It was discussed (at the Occupy meeting) how the media has terribly distorted OCCUPY Philly and the need to find ways to accurately tell their story.
The violence
The violence experienced in the streets before the arrest of 54 was described as well. Mayor Nutter said no one was harmed but quite a few were. While protesters were completely non violent, the police was not:
- Police horses were used to trample,
- Bikes were used as weapons to hit,
- One person was choked,
- One person had a knife drawn on them by police
Police tactics
Police closed in on folks on both sides and kept telling them to get on the side walk, when they got on the sidewalk other police would push them into the street …a whole group was caged in this way. Many who were arrested were attempting to avoid arrest.
They feel angered that the police, given the peaceful nature of the crowd, would be so aggressive. They had already vacated Dilworth and were chanting in the streets.
53 have been released without bail. They are charged with disturbing the peace and conspiracy. The Legal Collective is still working with them.
Occupiers feel the police who were violent should be held accountable but are not the enemy. They are part of the 99%. They feel their First Amendment rights have been violated: peaceful protest.
Note: I found one media report from the Associated Press mentioning that one Occupy protester had her foot trampled by a police horse.
The Huffington Post reports from Washington — “The United Nations envoy for freedom of expression is drafting an official communication to the US government demanding to know why federal officials are not protecting the rights of Occupy demonstrators whose protests are being disbanded — sometimes violently — by local authorities.”
Complete article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
