LR’s Occupy camp dismantled; 4 arrested peacefully in protest

— Nearly seven months after first pitching its tents, the Occupy Little Rock movement lost its home Wednesday afternoon.

Warned by the city in late April to have the political protest camp evacuated by 7 a.m. Wednesday, the Occupy Little Rock camp was cleared out and four of its members arrested after they politely refused to vacate the cityowned lot they have used since late October.

Jennifer Pierce, 27, of Bryant; Amy Cicirello, 48, of Little Rock; Glen Miller, 54, of North Little Rock; and Greg Deckelman, 58, of Cabot, an Occupy Little Rock spokesman, were arrested atthe East Fourth and Ferry streets parking lot at 2 p.m. and charged with disorderly conduct.

The four were taken to Pulaski County jail, where they were processed and released within an hour, according to jail records.

After the arrests, about 30 Little Rock officers, wearing gloves and some in protective suits, started tearing down the few remaining tents and clearing piles of wooden pallets and debris that the occupiers had already organized in the days leading up to the deadline to move.

“It was really sad. It felt like losing a family member,” Deckelman said. “I wasn’t expecting that emotion ... it took me by surprise.”

Deckelman said his defiance of the city’s order to vacate was an act of civil disobedience.

The point, according to Occupy members, was to protest City Manager Bruce Moore’s decision to evict the protesters after issuing them an open-dated special-event permit.

While officers tore down signs and tent riggings, Occupy Little Rock members heckled, saying Moore went back on a promise.

Moore did not return calls, and according to Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings, Police Chief Stuart Thomas declined to comment any further on Occupy Little Rock.

Moore and Thomas negotiated the site, where protesters moved Oct. 25, four days after they set up a camp on a cityowned park outside the Clinton Presidential Center.

City Director Lance Hines, who has been an outspoken opponent of what he called an “unwelcome ... permanent encampment,” said that permit was issued as a short-term solution.

Hines said neither he, nor any city official, expected the Occupy Little Rock camp to stay as long as it did.

“I think Bruce [Moore] would agree ... he shouldn’t have given an open-ended permit,” Hines said. “It’s an issue we’ve never had to deal with.But, like I said [before], it was time for them to go.”

Since establishing the protest site in the city-owned parking lot, the organization has held protests, workshops and taken on an activist role for a range of local issues, including the city’s plan for a technology park in existing neighborhoods.

After months of what Hastings called a “friendly” relationship between the occupiers, police and city government, city board members began grumbling about the group’s protest in late February.

After several weeks of talks, Moore issued a new specialevent permit, which Thomas hand-delivered April 24 when he told protesters they had until Wednesday to vacate.

According to Thomas, Moore and others, the city needed the lot to accommodate tour buses and other parking for summer events like Riverfest.

Occupy Little Rock member Marie Mainard O’Connellcalled the city’s logic “specious” since the occupiers were told the city wouldn’t allow them to relocate to other public property or return to the site after the summer months.

“[Moore] didn’t anticipate the parking lot wouldn’t run us off ... just surviving took a lot of energy, just surviving was a win for us,” Mainard O’Connell said. “[Moore, Mayor Mark Stodola and other city leaders] just decided they weren’t going to let anything happen and let the charade of the ‘negotiations’ play out.”

Hines, along with Hastings, said he thought the city had done a good job of accommodating an unconventional protest movement, and that city officials didn’t wrong the occupiers.

“I think [the Occupy Little Rock complaint] is a little bit sour grapes. People who don’t get their way shout the loudest,” Hines said. “[The city] gave them plenty of notice, and we’re the ones who came to them and found an [alternative] site for them in the first place.”

The bulk of the tents were gone long before the Wednesday deadline, according to Mainard O’Connell, who said many Occupy members didn’twant their property confiscated or damaged by the imminent raid.

Occupy Little Rock members worked through Tuesday night to clear space and, expecting police to arrive at 7 a.m., had coffee and doughnuts waiting.One Occupy protester passed the time working on his golf swing, while another rigged a fishing line with a doughnut on the hook, calling for the police to arrive.

By about 1:30 p.m., police began marking barricades around the parking lot and taped it off, leaving Deckelman, Miller, Pierce and Cicirello inside while fellow protesters stood on the edge of the crime tape.

Police officers lined the southern edge of the camp and waited as Thomas, with a smile on his face, sat down next to the four remaining protesters, and asked them to leave.

They declined, according to Hastings, and were arrested while other Occupy Little Rock members cheered the four as they were handcuffed. The group then jeered the arresting officers, hurling words like “tyranny” and “fascism.”

Hastings said that all in all, the operation, which police had been planning since late April, went well. Stodola agreed.

“We’ve offered them space to assemble when they want to have meetings ... I think it’s a stretch to talk about an extended encampment, their argument that it’s a form of protest in and of itself,” Stodola said. “We’ve tried to be reasonable about it.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 05/17/2012

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