Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Dallas Getting Fed Up with Occupiers
DALLAS - Occupy Dallas said it wants its marches to be like the one that took place Monday in front of the Bank of America building in downtown – purposeful and peaceful. The city of Dallas also wants more peaceful protests, without violent disturbances or clashes with police.
City leaders said they’ve looked at video from a chaotic demonstration this past weekend when eight protesters were arrested and three officers suffered minor injuries. One protester, 30-year-old Stephen Benevides, was involved in a confrontation with an officer. He now faces charges for assault on a public servant and resisting arrest.
Although Occupy Dallas has suggested otherwise, Dallas leaders said there was no wrongdoing on the part of the police officer in an incident that led to Benevides’ arrest.
“The video has been reviewed, examined. Findings are that police acted appropriately. You cannot push a police officer at all. That’s not something that we tolerate,” said Councilman Dwaine Caraway. “I don’t know how many strikes, but we’re getting fed up with it. Our eyes are on it.”
Leaders maintain the city has tried hard to balance the protesters’ First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble with residents’ rights and safety. If there are any more problems, they’ll consider taking steps to end the occupation.
City leaders said they’ve looked at video from a chaotic demonstration this past weekend when eight protesters were arrested and three officers suffered minor injuries. One protester, 30-year-old Stephen Benevides, was involved in a confrontation with an officer. He now faces charges for assault on a public servant and resisting arrest.
Although Occupy Dallas has suggested otherwise, Dallas leaders said there was no wrongdoing on the part of the police officer in an incident that led to Benevides’ arrest.
“The video has been reviewed, examined. Findings are that police acted appropriately. You cannot push a police officer at all. That’s not something that we tolerate,” said Councilman Dwaine Caraway. “I don’t know how many strikes, but we’re getting fed up with it. Our eyes are on it.”
Leaders maintain the city has tried hard to balance the protesters’ First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble with residents’ rights and safety. If there are any more problems, they’ll consider taking steps to end the occupation.
Citing "Numerous Breaches" of Agreement, City Hall Tells Occupy Dallas to Clean Up or Get Out
Never did hear from City Manager Mary Suhm about what she intended to tell Mayor Mike Rawlings concerning Occupy Dallas's continued camp-out behind Dallas City Hall. No matter: Moments ago Suhm sent to the mayor and city council a memo outlining what she says are "numerous, ongoing, and material breaches" of the settlement agreement allowing protesters to occupy the parking lot behind City Hall. And she doesn't just mean the man arrested for sexual assault, the child picked up by CPS or Saturday's arrests. Although there is that.Writes Suhm:
The Crisis Intervention unit of the Dallas Police Department has inspected encampment on several occasions and remains concerned about the health and public safety of people at the camp, especially children. Participants in Occupy Dallas have been arrested for criminal trespassing, obstructing a public sidewalk, assaulting a public servant, and resisting arrest. Moreover, some participants have been observed urinating in public, operating a space heater within three feet of combustible material, and committing various parking violations.
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Occupy Dallas's Bogus Arrests: We Got to Get Up and Organize
No way is this over. No way should anybody let this drop. The Occupy Dallas arrests last Saturday should be taken as a direct challenge, not a lesson or defeat.
The Dallas Police Department is already trying to paper over the outrageous arrests of seven bank protesters last Saturday on trumped up Soviet-style "misuse of sidewalk" bullshit charges. (Police made eight arrests in all.) Everything about this reeks of official misconduct and slime.
The cops claim a small riot started in front of Bank of America downtown when a protester refused to get off a concrete planter that was bank property and then attacked police with a union flag. Stephen Benavides, an organizer for the United Steelworkers, a union trying to organize city employees, remains in jail.
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Occupy Wall Street Now Occupying Courtrooms With First Amendment Lawsuits
Now that Occupy Wall Street has grown from a handful of demonstrators taking over a Lower Manhattan park to spawn offshoots in cities around the U.S., the movement is now occupying courtrooms.The young movement has lawyered up and filed lawsuits asserting freedom of speech and assembly in federal courts in Cincinnati, Sacramento, Nashville, Dallas and Atlanta, to name a few places.
These lawsuits, launched throughout October and November, are attempts by demonstrators to remain in their encampments while protesting government policies and influential corporations that they hold responsible for America's lopsided economic system.
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