PC LOAD LETTER
26th October 2011, 05:26
Started about twenty minutes ago ...
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html
Protesters were ordered to leave Woodruff Park, home of the Occupy Atlanta movement, late Tuesday night.
Enlarge photo (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Hyosub+Shin&bigPhotog=Hyosub+Shin&bigCap=Atlanta+police+officers+post+signs+as+they+ close+Park+Place+NE+at+Woodruff+Park+in+Atlanta+on +Tuesday%2c+October+25%2c+2011.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=hshin%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_HS06_1168355c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/01168/occupy_HS06_1168355l.jpg (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Hyosub+Shin&bigPhotog=Hyosub+Shin&bigCap=Atlanta+police+officers+post+signs+as+they+ close+Park+Place+NE+at+Woodruff+Park+in+Atlanta+on +Tuesday%2c+October+25%2c+2011.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=hshin%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_HS06_1168355c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
Hyosub Shin, [email protected] Atlanta police officers post signs as they close Park Place NE at Woodruff Park in Atlanta on Tuesday, October 25, 2011.
Enlarge photo (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Channel+2+Action+News&bigPhotog=Channel+2+Action+News&bigCap=A+man+who+identified+himself+as+a+war+veter an+had+himself+tied+to+a+tree+in+Woodruff+Park+lat e+Tuesday+night.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2fvet-tree_1168384c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/01168/vet-tree_1168384l.jpg (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Channel+2+Action+News&bigPhotog=Channel+2+Action+News&bigCap=A+man+who+identified+himself+as+a+war+veter an+had+himself+tied+to+a+tree+in+Woodruff+Park+lat e+Tuesday+night.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2fvet-tree_1168384c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
Channel 2 Action News A man who identified himself as a war veteran had himself tied to a tree in Woodruff Park late Tuesday night.
Enlarge photo (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Curtis+Compton&bigPhotog=Curtis+Compton&bigCap=Atlanta+police+gather+across+the+street+fro m+Woodruff+Park+and+Occupy+Atlanta+protesters+in+A tlanta+on+Tuesday+night%2c+Oct.+25%2c+2011.+&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=ccompton%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_CC1_1168307c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/01168/occupy_CC1_1168307l.jpg (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Curtis+Compton&bigPhotog=Curtis+Compton&bigCap=Atlanta+police+gather+across+the+street+fro m+Woodruff+Park+and+Occupy+Atlanta+protesters+in+A tlanta+on+Tuesday+night%2c+Oct.+25%2c+2011.+&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=ccompton%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_CC1_1168307c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
Curtis Compton, [email protected]
At midnight, police started going tent to tent with flashlights, urging people to leave before a second warning was issued.
Deputy Police Chief Calvin Moss announced at 11:52 p.m. that the executive order allowing protesters to stay in the park has been revoked. Protesters were told to leave the park and any belongings left behind would be treated as abandoned property.
At 10:45 p.m., Tim Franzen, an Occupy Atlanta leader, told participants who wanted to be arrested to gather in a circle in the middle of the park where there was the best lighting for the media to see. He advised people who had been drinking, using drugs or were on probation not to take part. Those who did not want to be arrested but wanted to continue the occupation were told to circle the park until 6 a.m. and then return.
Some of the people waiting to be arrested waved small American flags. About 50 remained in the park at midnight. Several hundred people were outside the park.
Franzen said arrangement already had been made to cover the bail of group members who were arrested. They are expected to be charged with violating a city ordinance, a misdemeanor.
Fifty additional police officers arrived just after 8 p.m., and Park Place NE alongside the park was barricaded. As of 10 p.m., a helicopter was still keeping watch over the park -- and it was greeted by a sign made out of PVC pipe, saying "Hi."
At the group's nightly assembly, protesters were reminded to go peacefully if arrests were made.
Mayor Kasim Reed said Monday he wouldn't evict Occupy Atlanta from the park until a group of clergy met with the demonstrators to try to work out a solution.
That meeting occurred late Tuesday afternoon, but little was accomplished. Reed said if no resolution was reached "we are going to clear the park."
It's uncertain whether an agreement to meet again Thursday at noon buys Occupy Atlanta another reprieve. Representatives of the group said their schedule was filled and they couldn't sit down with the clergy members until then.
"No one's really listening to me," said the Rev. Darrell Elligan, pastor of the True Light Baptist Church, following his meeting with Occupy Atlanta representatives. Elligan, president of the Atlanta chapter of the Concerned Black Clergy, was among a coalition of 30 faith leaders asked by Reed to meet with the demonstrators, though the pastor said they were not representing the mayor.
Occupy Atlanta wasn't buying the clergy's professed neutrality.
"I think [the clergy] were sent here to give the mayor cover," said Lady Mansfield, a spokeswoman for the protesters. "Not everyone, but most of them."
Mansfield said if the mayor is true to his word, he'll wait until after Thursday's meeting to move on the Occupy Atlanta camp. But Reed's statement is open to interpretation.
Elligan said he has no idea what the mayor will do next.
The mayor's office isn't saying.
Law enforcement remained around the barricaded park late Tuesday afternoon as police helicopters circled overhead. People can still get in and out though officers are stationed at every opening, ready to move in once the mayor makes the call.
At 6 p.m. more barricades were brought in along with additional officers. Later, police established a staging area at the Civic Center.
Atlanta police recruits, dressed in white T-shirts and blue pants, first began erecting barricades around the park Monday afternoon after Reed said he would at some point rescind his order allowing the protesters to remain in the park until Nov. 7. Reed said an unauthorized hip-hop concert that created a "dangerous situation" was the reason, adding some people associated with the movement "were on a clear path to escalation."
In response, Occupy Atlanta said city officials had "fabricated danger where none exists."
Also Tuesday, a man was seen walking around the park with a loaded AK-47, which, since he has a permit to carry, is legal though was unsettling to many. Police watched him closely as he circled the park, which was filling up with more protesters as the sun began to set. The man, who identified himself as "Porch," said he supported the demonstrators' right to assemble and was making a point about both the First and Second amendments.
The man, who said he was a 29-year-old accountant from East Point, invited his conservative friends to join him in the park.
"I'd welcome more of them to come down here and support the right of this movement to be here," he said.
If protesters are removed from the park, Franzen, said, "The occupation will continue in some shape or form," even if at a different location.
Protesters remained in the park Tuesday night, some playing music and singing, while others played chess. By 9:30 p.m., some protesters already had gone to their tents for the night.
Please return for updates.And there's kind of a smear campaign going on. They're saying Occupy Atlanta is "threatening to levitate the Georgia Pacific building" in an attempt to portray them as nutcases.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html
Protesters were ordered to leave Woodruff Park, home of the Occupy Atlanta movement, late Tuesday night.
Enlarge photo (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Hyosub+Shin&bigPhotog=Hyosub+Shin&bigCap=Atlanta+police+officers+post+signs+as+they+ close+Park+Place+NE+at+Woodruff+Park+in+Atlanta+on +Tuesday%2c+October+25%2c+2011.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=hshin%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_HS06_1168355c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/01168/occupy_HS06_1168355l.jpg (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Hyosub+Shin&bigPhotog=Hyosub+Shin&bigCap=Atlanta+police+officers+post+signs+as+they+ close+Park+Place+NE+at+Woodruff+Park+in+Atlanta+on +Tuesday%2c+October+25%2c+2011.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=hshin%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_HS06_1168355c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
Hyosub Shin, [email protected] Atlanta police officers post signs as they close Park Place NE at Woodruff Park in Atlanta on Tuesday, October 25, 2011.
Enlarge photo (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Channel+2+Action+News&bigPhotog=Channel+2+Action+News&bigCap=A+man+who+identified+himself+as+a+war+veter an+had+himself+tied+to+a+tree+in+Woodruff+Park+lat e+Tuesday+night.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2fvet-tree_1168384c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/01168/vet-tree_1168384l.jpg (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Channel+2+Action+News&bigPhotog=Channel+2+Action+News&bigCap=A+man+who+identified+himself+as+a+war+veter an+had+himself+tied+to+a+tree+in+Woodruff+Park+lat e+Tuesday+night.&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2fvet-tree_1168384c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
Channel 2 Action News A man who identified himself as a war veteran had himself tied to a tree in Woodruff Park late Tuesday night.
Enlarge photo (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Curtis+Compton&bigPhotog=Curtis+Compton&bigCap=Atlanta+police+gather+across+the+street+fro m+Woodruff+Park+and+Occupy+Atlanta+protesters+in+A tlanta+on+Tuesday+night%2c+Oct.+25%2c+2011.+&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=ccompton%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_CC1_1168307c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/01168/occupy_CC1_1168307l.jpg (http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/occupy-atlanta-protesters-ordered-1209963.html?bigName=Curtis+Compton&bigPhotog=Curtis+Compton&bigCap=Atlanta+police+gather+across+the+street+fro m+Woodruff+Park+and+Occupy+Atlanta+protesters+in+A tlanta+on+Tuesday+night%2c+Oct.+25%2c+2011.+&bigDeclCap=&bigCred=ccompton%40ajc.com&bigUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ajc.com%2fmultimedia%2fdyn amic%2f01168%2foccupy_CC1_1168307c.jpg&superSizeImage=y)
Curtis Compton, [email protected]
At midnight, police started going tent to tent with flashlights, urging people to leave before a second warning was issued.
Deputy Police Chief Calvin Moss announced at 11:52 p.m. that the executive order allowing protesters to stay in the park has been revoked. Protesters were told to leave the park and any belongings left behind would be treated as abandoned property.
At 10:45 p.m., Tim Franzen, an Occupy Atlanta leader, told participants who wanted to be arrested to gather in a circle in the middle of the park where there was the best lighting for the media to see. He advised people who had been drinking, using drugs or were on probation not to take part. Those who did not want to be arrested but wanted to continue the occupation were told to circle the park until 6 a.m. and then return.
Some of the people waiting to be arrested waved small American flags. About 50 remained in the park at midnight. Several hundred people were outside the park.
Franzen said arrangement already had been made to cover the bail of group members who were arrested. They are expected to be charged with violating a city ordinance, a misdemeanor.
Fifty additional police officers arrived just after 8 p.m., and Park Place NE alongside the park was barricaded. As of 10 p.m., a helicopter was still keeping watch over the park -- and it was greeted by a sign made out of PVC pipe, saying "Hi."
At the group's nightly assembly, protesters were reminded to go peacefully if arrests were made.
Mayor Kasim Reed said Monday he wouldn't evict Occupy Atlanta from the park until a group of clergy met with the demonstrators to try to work out a solution.
That meeting occurred late Tuesday afternoon, but little was accomplished. Reed said if no resolution was reached "we are going to clear the park."
It's uncertain whether an agreement to meet again Thursday at noon buys Occupy Atlanta another reprieve. Representatives of the group said their schedule was filled and they couldn't sit down with the clergy members until then.
"No one's really listening to me," said the Rev. Darrell Elligan, pastor of the True Light Baptist Church, following his meeting with Occupy Atlanta representatives. Elligan, president of the Atlanta chapter of the Concerned Black Clergy, was among a coalition of 30 faith leaders asked by Reed to meet with the demonstrators, though the pastor said they were not representing the mayor.
Occupy Atlanta wasn't buying the clergy's professed neutrality.
"I think [the clergy] were sent here to give the mayor cover," said Lady Mansfield, a spokeswoman for the protesters. "Not everyone, but most of them."
Mansfield said if the mayor is true to his word, he'll wait until after Thursday's meeting to move on the Occupy Atlanta camp. But Reed's statement is open to interpretation.
Elligan said he has no idea what the mayor will do next.
The mayor's office isn't saying.
Law enforcement remained around the barricaded park late Tuesday afternoon as police helicopters circled overhead. People can still get in and out though officers are stationed at every opening, ready to move in once the mayor makes the call.
At 6 p.m. more barricades were brought in along with additional officers. Later, police established a staging area at the Civic Center.
Atlanta police recruits, dressed in white T-shirts and blue pants, first began erecting barricades around the park Monday afternoon after Reed said he would at some point rescind his order allowing the protesters to remain in the park until Nov. 7. Reed said an unauthorized hip-hop concert that created a "dangerous situation" was the reason, adding some people associated with the movement "were on a clear path to escalation."
In response, Occupy Atlanta said city officials had "fabricated danger where none exists."
Also Tuesday, a man was seen walking around the park with a loaded AK-47, which, since he has a permit to carry, is legal though was unsettling to many. Police watched him closely as he circled the park, which was filling up with more protesters as the sun began to set. The man, who identified himself as "Porch," said he supported the demonstrators' right to assemble and was making a point about both the First and Second amendments.
The man, who said he was a 29-year-old accountant from East Point, invited his conservative friends to join him in the park.
"I'd welcome more of them to come down here and support the right of this movement to be here," he said.
If protesters are removed from the park, Franzen, said, "The occupation will continue in some shape or form," even if at a different location.
Protesters remained in the park Tuesday night, some playing music and singing, while others played chess. By 9:30 p.m., some protesters already had gone to their tents for the night.
Please return for updates.And there's kind of a smear campaign going on. They're saying Occupy Atlanta is "threatening to levitate the Georgia Pacific building" in an attempt to portray them as nutcases.