Americas

Home page

Americas

Nine arrested, tents cleared at Occupy Seattle

17 October 2011 20:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Police in the U.S. city of Seattle on Monday arrested nine Occupy Seattle protesters and took down some 150 tents in a city park along with park employees, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Seattle police said eight people were arrested in Westlake Park Monday morning for investigation of obstructing police and the ninth arrest was made later as a woman refused to leave and threw a cup of coffee at one of the officers, according to The Seattle Times.

One demonstrator told the newspaper that large groups of police showed up early Monday, some on foot and some on bicycles, trampling through the camp and taking down tents.

Citing illegal camping on city property, police said the protesters were told to take the tents down or police and parks employees will do for them.

After the tents were cleared, more than 200 protesters in the park began chanting "Show me what oppression looks like," and others responded "This is what oppression looks like," said the report.

The Occupy Seattle protests, the local offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, reached a milestone last Saturday as around 3,000 protesters attended a nonviolent march.

The encampment is a movement called "Night of 500 Tents," in which protesters set up tents in city parks in a direct challenge to the city’s stated commitment to evict campers from the park after 10:00 p.m. Last Thursday night, 10 people were arrested when they refused to leave their tents in a city park.