Tulsa Peace Fellowship

There never was a good war or a bad peace. ~Ben Franklin

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Police arrested 10 Occupy Tulsa protesters after they refused to leave a city park at 6th and Boston early Wednesday morning.

The arrests happened at 1:45 a.m., Nov 2nd 2011. Police said the protesters were in violation of the park's curfew.

Many of the 40 Occupy Tulsa protesters left when police made the announcement, but several refused to leave.

Tulsa Police say those who refused to leave grabbed a hold of each other to show they were refusing to leave.

At that point, Tulsa Police started using pepper spray.

The protesters who were arrested were taken to the Tulsa County jail and booked on complaints of resisting arrest and violation of the park's curfew.

According to Tulsa County jail records those arrested by Tulsa Police include:

John Harlien -- Tulsa
Amanda Hammack -- Tulsa
Lawrence Black -- Austin, Texas
Shane Algiere -- Tulsa
Masar Alabdul-Baqi -- Tulsa
Jeffrey Key -- Tulsa
Brittany Mercer -- Tulsa
Samval Molik -- Tulsa
Elias Sliva -- Tulsa
John Vanzant -- Mounds, Oklahoma

After posting bond, seven of them returned to the park at 6th and Boulder to continue their protest.

( with reporting from http://www.newson6.com )

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Comment by Tony Nuspl on November 3, 2011 at 10:48am

More arrests, 2nd Nov 11:40 pm

Story, with names and photos, in the Tulsa World:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articl...

 

Unlike the protesters who were arrested early Wednesday, many of the protesters arrested Wednesday night do not live in Tulsa.

Six of those arrested were :


Ventura Irael Esquivel, 24 of Oklahoma City;

Sean Colin Lovell, 25 of Blanchard, Okla.;

Jacob Aaron Miramontes, 19 of Oklahoma City;

Nicholas Miller Saltzman, 18 of Oklahoma City;

Sean Arthur Scotney, 35 of Tulsa; and

Destiny Jasime Smith, 21 of Oklahoma City.

 

Records were not immediately available for the others arrested.

Two of the 10 arrested live outside Tulsa — and one outside the Tulsa area, records show.

The protesters have camped at the park since Friday. They are part of a
movement that sprang up in cities across the country after the Occupy
Wall Street protesters began squatting in a New York City park in
September.

“Corporate welfare,” particularly for financial institutions, and the
growing concentration of wealth appear to be the Occupy groups’ leading
concerns.

However, the Occupy Tulsa crowd now seems to be more interested in
fighting for their constitutional rights to peacefully assemble and to
petition the government for a redress of their grievances. They maintain
that those rights trump any city ordinance that sets a park curfew.

 

(reporting by Amanda Bland, TW)

 

Comment by Tony Nuspl on November 2, 2011 at 10:51am

More details on the veteran from Tulsa arrested with the other 9 protesters engaged in civil disobedience, as part of OccupyTulsa, from coverage provided by Channel 8 tv news:

"[There was] an overwhelming majority of support from the general public," said protestor Samuel Molik, a veteran, standing along side roughly 20 protestors at 9:30 PM, each with their own reason for being in the movement.
"I'm not in school this semester because the federal government cut my Pell grant and I'm a veteran, this is insane," he said.
For the next hour there would be shouting of purpose, and mission, and mutual inspiration. Just after 11 PM, a handful of officers approached the group to inform them they were violating the law.
"Curfew has come," said Deputy Chief Daryl Webster, trying to reach a "middle ground" with the protestors. Explaining that the park had to be vacated, but that the sidewalks were fair game.
"And so the tents need to come down off the grass, dismantled, on to the flats and stay dismantled, and then you all are free to remain on the sidewalk area," he said.
The protestors rejected the offer. And with that the deputy chief left, leaving behind concern that the next visit might not be so cordial.
A core group of protestors, those intending to get arrested gathered in the grass, many of their arms scrawled with the phone number of an attorney.
Finally, just over 3 hours after the police tried to compromise, they returned with massive force, once again urging the protestors to leave.
"All occupants of the park must leave now!" they ordered.
With no compliance, the police moved in, surrounding the group on the grass and beginning the first arrest with a dose of pepper spray.
"I can't see, I can't see," said one man, his eyes and face colored with pepper spray, as he was led away handcuffed.
"To me right there that was police brutality," said Gena Madsen, watching the event unfold.
Not all of the protestors were sprayed, but the fact that it was used at all outraged many of the spectators. 
"They were getting pepper spray this close to these people's faces and just totally, and there was no call for that there was not the people were fighting at all," she said.
"Pepper spray is used in cases where there is resistance ,on this case it was used only on persons who were actively resisting arrest," said the deputy chief.
In all, nine people [sic, 10 actually] were arrested, including Samuel Molik, the vet upset over his pell grant. The arrests inspiring the remaining few left behind. 
"I'm gonna be here until there's effective change, and I think there's going to be more and more and more people. I mean, what happened when they turned the hoses and dogs on people in Birmingham, Alabama?" asked one protestor
( story posted on their webpage, Wed Nov 2nd 2011 5:26 am: http://www.ktul.com )

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