Police arrest 51 demonstrators in weekend confrontation
By Kate Peifer Staff Writer peifer14@up.edu
The Occupy Portland movement is regrouping following a tense confrontation with police Saturday night and early Sunday, resulting in the arrest of 51 demonstrators.
Mayor Sam Adams ordered the camps to be shut down by Saturday, Nov. 12, at midnight.
"Crime, especially reported assaults, has increased in the area," Adams said at a press conference in City Hall. "Occupy has had a considerable time to share its movement's message with the public but has lost control of the camps it has created."
Due to an increase in crime and two accounts of drug overdose, Adams said the deliberate termination of the camp is not about politics but rather about encroachment and the safety of others.
"I want to make clear: This action is not an action against the Occupy Portland movement," Adams said.
On Saturday, Nov. 12, before the arrests took place, a group of UP students attended a march held by Occupy Portland.
"I was at the occupation site Saturday afternoon, several hours before the eviction deadline," senior Kevin Hershey said via email.
According to Hershey, police outnumbered participants of the march but no physical force was used.
"The march was peaceful," Hershey said. "Non-violence is important to the movement. I did not witness the use of any force, but the officers were all armed with chemical weapons and gas masks."
Hershey plans to continue supporting the movement despite termination of the camps.
"I do have plans to support the Occupy movement further, but I'm not exactly sure how," Hershey said. "To me, it's beautiful to see people in the United States finally question the way things work around here and rise up together."
Sophomores Emily Reynolds, Garrett Athman and Colin Ritter witnessed the tension at Occupy Portland on their way back to campus Saturday night.
"We were at Voodoo (Doughnuts) and we saw a police helicopter," Reynolds said. "We followed it and ended up at Occupy Portland."
According to Reynolds, the police wore helmets and riot gear and used batons to push people back.
"It was one in the morning and there were thousands of people," Reynolds said. "We were kind of freaked out because the police were yelling."
On Wednesday, several hundred Portland State University students missed class to march through downtown Portland in support of the movement.
According to police, one protester, 32-year-old John Saunders, was arrested for shoving two police officers.
Saunders had been arrested Sunday in connection with the clearing of the Occupy encampment, police said.
