24 arrested in Occupy Asheville demonstration in Pack Square Park

Posted on by Jeff Fobes

Twenty-four Occupy Asheville protesters were arrested in a demonstration on Nov. 24. Earlier that day, Occupy Asheville protestors had expressed solidarity with an Oakland, Calif., march.

From Xpress freelance photographer Bill Rhodes (@ashevillein):
24 arrested after refusing to go to sidewalk, staying in park… no violence, no resistance.
At 1048p.m., Lt Wilkins said no arrests if the #OA people would move to the sidewalk. They refused. They would, he said, face arrest.
At 1108pm, Lt Wilkins came back, asked if there was “Anything he could do to move them to the sidewalk.” #OA again refused; arrests
At 1109, Matthew Byrd was the first #oa arrestee.
At 1128, the last of the 24 #oa protesters was arrested.

From Xpress Senior News Reporter David Forbes (@davidforbes):
#occupyasheville protesters asked for camping spot, curfew waiver in Pack Square Pk on Oct. 25, Council refused.
According to reporter on scene, about 60 #occupyasheville protesters are staying in Pack Sq Park after curfew. For context, #occupyasheville protesters are choosing to stay past 10pm public park curfew.

From the Asheville Citizen-Times:

…The Occupants knew ahead of time they were breaking curfew and expected officers to intervene, so they discussed how police would proceed and how they should conduct themselves. About 25 officers responded to the area … Protestors argued they have constitutional rights to gather publicly and the time of day is irrelevant.

“An unjust law is no law at all,” Naomi Archer said. …

 

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About Jeff Fobes
As a long-time proponent of media for social change, my early activities included coordinating the creation of a small community FM radio station to serve a poor section of St. Louis, Mo. In the 1980s I served as the editor of the "futurist" newsletter of the U.S. Association for the Club of Rome, a professional/academic group with a global focus and a mandate to act locally. During that time, I was impressed by a journalism experiment in Mississippi, in which a newspaper reporter spent a year in a small town covering how global activities impacted local events (e.g., literacy programs in Asia drove up the price of pulpwood; soybean demand in China impacted local soybean prices). Taking a cue from the Mississippi journalism experiment, I offered to help the local Green Party in western North Carolina start its own newspaper, which published under the name Green Line. Eventually the local party turned Green Line over to me, giving Asheville-area readers an independent, locally focused news source that was driven by global concerns. Over the years the monthly grew, until it morphed into the weekly Mountain Xpress in 1994. I've been its publisher since the beginning. Mountain Xpress' mission is to promote grassroots democracy (of any political persuasion) by serving the area's most active, thoughtful readers. Consider Xpress as an experiment to see if such a media operation can promote a healthy, democratic and wise community. In addition to print, today's rapidly evolving Web technosphere offers a grand opportunity to see how an interactive global information network impacts a local community when the network includes a locally focused media outlet whose aim is promote thoughtful citizen activism. Follow me @fobes
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6 thoughts on “24 arrested in Occupy Asheville demonstration in Pack Square Park”

  3. JRD_Asheville

    Yeah…”solid with Oakland” in ham fisted overkill by cops. Wonder what they’re afraid of?

  4. D. Dial

    I always like to read an outsiders point of view…especially from non partisan publications. It’s interesting to read what Financial Times says of the “Occupiers.” They have a good chance of affecting the 2012 political cycle. Here’s hoping they don’t allow themselves to be co-opted by special interest groups, hell bent on overtaking their momentum and turning it into a left wing fiasco.

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/242bd162o buy additional rights.-0152-11e1-b177-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1chiO4ecg

    “The protesters have already rebalanced the national conversation. Brace for a grand debate in 2012 in which both the Tea Partiers and the Occupy crowd are likely to be setting the pace”. ~ Edward Luce @ Financial Times

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