Hennepin County removes Occupy Minnesota tents, protesters say they will move to city property

Just after 1 a.m. on Sunday, dozens of Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies descended on the grassy knoll of the Hennepin County Government Center and confiscated tents OccupyMN demonstrators had erected to shelter themselves from Minnesota’s inclement weather, which dipped into the 40s as chilly drizzle fell on their makeshift encampment.

Demonstrators had agreed to erect the tents in defiance of a county ban on the structures. The county said the tents would pose a public safety risk because “illegal activity” could go unnoticed inside them.

In response, demonstrators constructed tents with clear plastic sheeting and called them “transparent structures.” The tents also held a political message, which demonstrators chanted while carrying them to the southern lawn: “Our tents our transparent, unlike the one percent!”

Dozens linked arms around the tents before 5 p.m. Saturday. After 5:30 p.m., Nick Espinosa, an OccupyMN organizer, issued a warning: police said they had five minutes to dismantle them. Anthony Guidotti, 20, took the megaphone and offered a space for people to pray for anyone who faced arrest, “No matter your spirituality.” They sang “We Shall Overcome.”

No police came. They unlinked arms. After 9 p.m., a local news station on scene was broadcasting the night as a “victory” for OccupyMN.

Many were awoken, though, at 1:10 a.m., when roughly 50 officers emerged from the Government Center, Espinosa estimated. He called out code red—the demonstrators had made a plan in the case of police action—and around 70 linked arms around three of the transparent tents, he said. (Some had brought their own opaque camping tents).

“People…sat down around a group of three of the transparent structures in a symbolic defense of our transparency as the 99 percent and what we’re doing,” said Espinosa, 25. “Which is trying to protect our health and safety while addressing [Hennepin County’s] concerns about visibility inside the tents.”

Hennepin County Sheriff’s Deputies have recorded protesters throughout the occupation.

Police took all the tents but made no arrests. “They’ve pretty much been policing themselves,” Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said of the demonstrators on Sunday, in a brief interview. Stanek would not say how many authorities were involved in the police action or why authorities waited until after 1 a.m. to commence it.

Unconnected to the tent issue, officials arrested Melissa Hill early in the evening—the first arrest since the demonstrations began. An activist who was working as a legal observer at the demonstration, Hill had been banned from Hennepin County property after chalking on it. Police booked her for trespassing. Hill’s bail was set at $50 and she was released from custody just after midnight on Sunday.

Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lisa Kiava deferred specific questions about the police action to a news release that states, in part, the county erected an open-air canopy to protect the public from poor weather. Demonstrators say the canopy doesn’t provide enough protection from the cold and isn’t large enough.

“County policy accommodates the First Amendment rights of residents on county property, while protecting the free use of government buildings by the public and employees,” the news release states. “As always, conduct on county property that violates county policy, Minneapolis city ordinance or state law is not allowed.”

On Sunday afternoon in a planning committee, several dozen demonstrators deliberated for hours about how to carry on a protest with Minnesota’s winter looming while sending a message in response to the confiscation of the tents, which several compared to a foreclosure. The committee voted to eventually set up tents across the street, on the plaza in front of U.S. Bank, within the next two days. Anyone could set up cardboard boxes if they needed shelter in the meantime—a move that would still defy the county’s ban.

“There’s a plaza that’s city property; it’s out of Sheriff Stanek’s jurisdiction,” said Espinosa. “We found Sheriff Stanek just not that willing to work with us to find a solution to us needing our health and safety covered for this Minnesota winter and the weather as it’s getting colder and rainy on us.”