Friday, October 28, 2011
Law and Order Occupy Nashville Protesters Claim Victory, Return to Plaza
Posted by Jeff Woods on Fri, Oct 28, 2011 at 9:44 AM
A dozen Occupy Nashville protesters, undeterred by their arrests and six hours in detention, have marched back onto the Legislative Plaza this morning claiming victory in their cause.
“Whose plaza? Our plaza!” they yelled as they arrived in the rain.
Enforcing a new 10 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew on the Capitol grounds, state troopers arrested 29 demonstrators at 3 a.m. and hauled them away in buses to jail, ending the three-week occupation of the Plaza.
The magistrate of the court refused to hear the charges, saying the state didn't give the protesters enough notice of the curfew, which was announced only yesterday afternoon. The judge advised the Highway Patrol to free the protesters. But instead troopers detained them at the jail and began issuing citations for criminal trespass. They finally went free at around 9 a.m.
“It was a great first step,” says Occupy Nashville’s Adam Knight, an eighth-grade teacher. “Absolutely it was a victory. We showed solidarity. We stood together. It really galvanized our group. Now we’re going to gain momentum. They had to take us off and now we’re back.”
Tripp Hunt, a lawyer for Occupy Nashville, accused state officials of tricking the protesters.
“They went back on their word,” Hunt said. “They indicated that they would not arrest them until today. That was very disingenuous. They obviously meant to mislead.”
The Haslam administration clearly deceived the media, apparently to curtail coverage of their dead-of-night police action. State spokeswoman Lola Potter told reporters yesterday that the protesters wouldn’t be arrested until they had an opportunity today to apply for one of the new state permits to hold demonstrations at the Capitol. In fact, Potter made the case that it was unfair and unreasonable to do what the state did—that is, arrest the protesters before giving them a little time to ask for a permit.
“Not tonight,” Potter said yesterday when asked when the arrests would take place. "We're just now announcing the policy after 1 o'clock in the afternoon, so we're not going to enforce it today. We're going to assume that they are going to do the right thing and get a permit tomorrow.”
We guess state officials decided, fair or not, the protesters had to go. As it turned out, Occupy Nashville had no intention of asking for a permit. Last night before the arrests, the group adopted a resolution calling the state policy “a direct violation of our constitutional rights.”
“We intend to resist this illegal action by the state in a peaceful and dignified manner,” the resolution says.
Occupy Nashville has called a meeting for 7 tonight on the Plaza steps. “If you oppose the actions of the state in prohibiting free political speech at Legislative Plaza, please attend this meeting and show your support,” the group says in a statement.
To avoid arrest, the statement points out, people can stand on the city-owned sidewalks on the street outside state jurisdiction.
Comments (14)
Showing 1-14 of 14
Again, to reiterate, this might be helpful:
615-741-2001
Governor Bill Haslam
615-741-2081 OR 615-862-5050
Steve Cates, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services
615-251-5175
Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Tracy Trott
615-251-8587
Tennessee Highway Patrol
615-862-8123
Criminal Justice Center (where protesters were detained)
615-741-3481
Tennessee State Police
615-862-6000
Mayor Karl Dean
Let's light up those switchboards like Christmas trees! You're welcome.
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"The Haslam administration clearly deceived the media, apparently to curtail coverage of their dead-of-night police action. State spokeswoman Lola Potter told reporters yesterday that the protesters wouldn’t be arrested until they had an opportunity today to apply for one of the new state permits to hold demonstrations at the Capitol. In fact, Potter made the case that it was unfair and unreasonable to do what the state did—that is, arrest the protesters before giving them a little time to ask for a permit."
What bunch of bastards.
I see that Occupy Nashville's cause had become a little diluted with the arrest. Now they are talking about the arrest as a victory when all it does is take them further from the cause.
Shine the light on the Cause and not the Arrest, it is really hard to get behind you when you lose sight of your original intent. that in itself makes you sound like the lawmakers you so despise.
It is a surety that during civil disobedience the state will screw up royally. Rob, arrests like these only shine light on the previous point. Takes nothing from the movement.
If we're cracking down on people who piss all over public property, shouldn't we also be arresting our state legislators who basically do this to us taxpayers every day?
Lets see, we can occupy public property, defecate in the gardens, live in a filthy environment, jack power from the state buildings to keep warm (on the public dime, of course), litter, harass passers by who have no interest in your lazy, slovenly habits, and then cry victory because you were finally removed from being a public nuisance? There are barely 50 if you (and i am being generous 29 "braved" arrest). Go home, get a shower (please) and find a damn job.
Really, these guys all went to jail, saw that the system worked in THEIR favor... charges were lame, yet they will only go back and protest on the SIDEWALK?!
For crying out loud, the Plaza is just as much PUBLIC property as the sidewalk is.
Damn, if you have a right to protest in public then down cower and hide on the sidewalk where you are PERMITTED to protest - get in the Plaza and hold on to your rights!
Be MEN, and women, not mice or sheep. I'll join you at 7PM for ga ON THE PLAZA!
"Lets see, we can occupy public property, defecate in the gardens, live in a filthy environment, jack power from the state buildings to keep warm (on the public dime, of course), litter, harass passers by who have no interest in your lazy, slovenly habits, and then cry victory because you were finally removed from being a public nuisance? There are barely 50 if you (and i am being generous 29 "braved" arrest)" -working 1%
Sounds rather like the occupation of Iraq, I thought we were discussing OWS.
