Police Arrest Chapel Hill Protesters Who Occupied Vacant Business ('SWAT' Team; Reporters Detained)

[Hissyspit]

Source: The News & Observer (Raleigh NC)

Police arrest Chapel Hill protesters who occupied vacant business

BY KATELYN FERRAL AND MARK SCHULTZ

CHAPEL HILL -- A police tactical team of more than 25 police officers arrested eight demonstrators Sunday afternoon and charged them with breaking and entering for occupying a vacant car dealership on Franklin Street.

Officers brandishing guns and semi-automatic rifles rushed the building at about 4:30 p.m. They pointed weapons at those standing outside, and ordered them to put their faces on the ground. They surrounded the building and cleared out those who were inside.

About 13 people, including New & Observer staff writer covering the demonstration, were forced to the ground and hand-cuffed.

Those who had been outside of the building at the time of the arrests - including N&O staffer Katelyn Ferral - were detained and then let go after their pictures were taken. Eight people inside the building were cuffed and put on a Chapel Hill Transit bus to be taken to the police station to be charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/13/1641362/activists-take-over-vacant-franklin.html

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[zazen]

1. I _just_ got my LBN post kicked because it duplicated yours!

Like, five seconds ago. Wow.

I can't believe we've got police with AK47s dressed like they're storming the headquarters of a Mexican cartel, arresting CHAPEL HILL protestors. This is CHAPEL HILL. Across the street from the famous Crook's Corner. A block down from Cat's Cradle and the Art's Center. Five blocks from Weaver St. Market. Six blocks from the Old Well.

And they needed AK47s?!! And forced an N&O reporter to the ground and hand-cuffed her?

[msongs]

2. these "protect and serve" types watch too many tv police shows lol nt

[RKP5637]

3. Looks like a war zone. The new face of America at home too. BTW, homes, 18 million homes are

now vacant in the US per this ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67U0xzrYiMg

[BiggJawn]

4. Look at the ARM on that one pig!

Nope, no evidence of steroid use there, he got those "guns" from doing 9,980 push-ups a day...

BTW, those "AK-47" guns are actually either AR-15's or maybe M-4's. I know some people think anything that isn't a Red Ryder BB gun is an "AK-47", but they ain't.

[Dawson Leery]

5. The Koch brothers pay well.

[SoapBox]

6. As I keep saying over and over...time to reign in the Police Militia Departments.

Paid for with OUR TAX DOLLARS.

And how many Banksters of Wall Street, did they arrest like this? The Banksters brought down
the entire world and who is the bad guy here? The 99% that want that kind of shit stopped.

Call it part of my "conspiracy theory" but it sure seems that the Goons have been moving against
Occupy, all across the country, this weekend. Do they communicate? Are Militias in touch with
each other?

I guess we will need to move this "movement" to a different environment. But, I suppose the
Goons will then try to shut down websites, cell phones and search mail.

This is all like a bad movie.

[JDPriestly]

10. They are closing down the Occupy sites before the austerity measures

are announced this coming week and the weekend of Thanksgiving.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. Things that make you go "Hmm."

[MADem]

12. Rein--like horses. To reign is to rule. nt

[zazen]

7. Police arrest Chapel Hill protesters who occupied vacant business

Source: Raleigh News & Observer

CHAPEL HILL -- A police tactical team of more than 25 police officers arrested eight demonstrators Sunday afternoon and charged them with breaking and entering for occupying a vacant car dealership on Franklin Street.

Officers brandishing guns and semi-automatic rifles rushed the building at about 4:30 p.m. They pointed weapons at those standing outside, and ordered them to put their faces on the ground. They surrounded the building and cleared out those who were inside.

About 13 people, including New & Observer staff writer covering the demonstration, were forced to the ground and hand-cuffed.

A crowd of between 50 and 75 people gathered across the street, watching and taking pictures as the bus carrying the protesters pulled away. They jeered police officers, chanting, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" When someone noticed the Wells Fargo advertisement on the side of the bus, they began chanting "Who do they serve? Wells

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/13/1641362/activists-take-over-vacant-franklin.html

---

I wish I could post the photo here.

You've got police with AK47s dressed like they're storming the headquarters of a Mexican cartel, arresting CHAPEL HILL protestors? This is CHAPEL HILL. Across the street from the famous Crook's Corner. A block down from Cat's Cradle and the Art's Center. Five blocks from Weaver St. Market. Six blocks from the Old Well.

And they needed AK47s?!! And forced an N&O reporter to the ground and hand-cuffed her?

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Those are AR-15's, not AK-47's

The police usually take a dim view of breaking and entering. Vacant or not, that was private property.

[FreedomVoice]

21. Agreed, if I was a LOE and was told to remove these people,

and I had no idea what is inside? Surely I would want the best hardware advantage I could get. Plus the M4 (military AR15) is standard issue to SWAT, you always want to have the equipment you are most familiar with handling in your hands in a stressful situation. Not only for your own protection, but innocent people who may be close by if things go south.

[dothemath]

14. how long?

We are looking at a very disturbing pattern. Due to technological advancements of the last few years that hold people with guns and badges up to increasing scrutiny, law enforcement agencies are incresingly turning to 'special' enforcement tools. Swat teams in various forms are cropping up everywhere. So far, there has been essentially no redress for citizens who are being brutalized by these entities. It has provided an outlet for the, IMO, preponderance of law enforcement types who are in it, not to serve and protect, but because it provides them an excuse to exercise the prerogatives that brought them to law enforcement in the first place. They are the 'I am the law' types that have always been drawn to be cops. Sure, there are a few who have higher motives, but again, IMO, they are dwindling and the public is going to pay ever more heavily as time goes by.

[JDPriestly]

9. America -- Home of the brave, land of the ....... what was that word. can't seem to remember it.

Of course the protestors are trespassing.

But then Wall Street stole.

[MADem]

11. Wonder how much it would cost to lease that place for a year or so and use it as a HQ.

Maybe NYC could send some of that half million dollars they collected to help out with the rent.

[mnhtnbb]

13. My son happened to come out of a bar across the street as this was happening

They took the protesters away on a Chapel Hill town bus--fare free--
that had Wells Fargo advertising on its side.

Ironic?


Here's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65HTj1_A4o

[bertman]

15. As an active participant in Occupy Chapel Hill-Carrboro I want to state that

this action was NOT by our Occupy group but by a separate group calling themselves Autonomous anti-capitalist occupiers. Many of the AACO are active in our Occupy but our GA today (BEFORE the raid) specifically stated that this was not our action. We did offer our solidarity with the AACO.

While I don't agree with what the AACO did, I am REALLY angry about the way our police department handled the RAID. First, this building was open to anyone who wanted to walk in, look around, ask questions, scope it out to see if there were armed militants in there (there were NONE). As a matter of fact, this group was about as benign a group as you could find anywhere. So, bringing in Storm Troopers was absolutely a DESPICABLE ACT. If you watch the video you will see the police officer with the AR is scanning the rooftops for snipers. OMFG!!

This is the real life manifestation of our Police State in full bloom. I am hoping that this will be the beginning of the end of our police fetish with being marines, infantry, SEALs, whatever. It is sickening.

Peace and solidarity

[Hissyspit]

16. "Column: My first-hand account of today’s Franklin St. arrests"

http://reesenews.org/2011/11/13/column-my-first-hand-account-of-todays-arrest/26969

- snip -

As a graduate photojournalism student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, I have been independently covering the Occupy Movement on Twitter and Flickr. So when I got the call I put down my coursework, picked up my press pass and camera, and headed over.

- snip -

Without warning or orders to the crowd to disperse, the police stormed the building. From where I stood in public space outside the building, I could see police in riot gear and green army fatigues aiming automatic rifles at anyone in the vicinity.

“On the ground, face the ground,” were the only orders given by police.

- snip -

Kleinschmidt said in this situation that the “town will respond in accord with the oath every elected official and law enforcement officer takes.”

Mr. Mayor, what part of your oath states that journalists can be detained at gunpoint–effectively censored–from performing his or her First Amendment protected duties?

MORE

[SoapBox]

17. I love your question for the Mayor.

In fact, for all Mayors that are doing this.

My most fav excuse was the one in St. Louis...Area needed to be cleared
so that they can put up the Salvation Army CHRISTMAS TREE.

I wonder how many people, that the Banksters destroyed (as in, no home), will have
someplace to even put up their own tree?!?

[Hissyspit]

18. I didn't write it. Master's student at UNC-CH (which I used to be a LONG time ago) did.

[bigworld]

20. While they shouldn't have been occupying private property

I'm pretty sure the Chapel Hill police don't respond with such force to every tresspassing violation.

[bertman]

22. You are correct, bigworld. They do not respond like that. The trigger word here is 'anarchists'.

The fact that anarchists were involved morphed into a scary, domestic terrorist approach to dealing with the situation.

Our anarchists (meaning the individuals who have been involved at OCHC since the beginning and who were a big part of getting the Occupy off the ground in Chapel Hill) have been a regular presence at our GA's and our Occupy site. They are good people, for the most part, who are angry about how the system is destroying the planet and its inhabitants--human, animal, plant, etc. They are also very well-informed about a lot of social justice and environmental issues and hold direct actions on a regular basis. I find their passion and their energy inspiring and rejuvenating even if I disagree with their tactics such as the occupation of the building.

There are many unanswered questions about why the police thought they should act like Storm Troopers. I'm hoping that there will be a thorough and impartial investigation of the happenings.

Two things were obvious to me: 1) the anarchists were itching for a confrontation with the authorities/police and that's why they occupied the building (their propaganda about wanting to turn it into a community center does not wash with me); 2) the police were itching to get in some real live combat-style action with drawn guns even if it meant violating basic common sense and trampling all over our constitutional rights.

Both got what they wanted.

Time will tell who gained the most ground in this action.