Unoccupy Albuquerque protesters arrested on university campus
Over a dozen members of “(Un)occupy Albuquerque,” part of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, were arrested last night at the University of New Mexico campus, after the university administration declined to renew a permit allowing the protesters to camp out at Yale Park. One by one, protesters sitting in peaceful resistance to the university’s order were arrested by the New Mexico State Police.
(Un)Occupy Albuquerque wasn’t the only “99 percent” group confronted by authorities last night.
In Oakland, Calif., police arrested over 100 “Occupiers” and used tear gas and bean bag rounds to clear the park where they were camped out near City Hall. In downtown Atlanta, Georgia, police cleared out a similar encampment and arrested about 50 people early Wednesday morning. CBSNews reports:
“„Organizers had instructed participants to be peaceful if arrests came, and most were. Many gathered in the center of the park, locking arms, and sang “We Shall Overcome,” until police led them out, one-by-one to waiting buses. Some were dragged out while others left on foot, handcuffed with plastic ties.
The Albquerque protesters have been at UNM for about four weeks. They have protested outside of the office of the university president, and witnessed teach-ins by professors on the history of social movements that placed the “99 percent” movement in context with similar pushes for social change.
(Un)occupy Albuquerque has distinguished itself from other “99 percent” movements by rejecting the “Occupy” moniker out of respect for New Mexico’s large Native American population.
