LITTLE ROCK — Four Occupy Little Rock protesters were arrested Wednesday after they refused to leave when police came to clear a parking lot where the group had camped for months.
The protesters surrendered peacefully and were taken to the Pulaski County Detention Center, where they were cited for disorderly conduct, given court dates and released.
Members of Occupy Little Rock — the local incarnation of the international Occupy movement protesting economic inequality — had occupied the lot near the downtown post office since Oct. 25. City officials recently announced that the group had to be out of the lot by Wednesday.
Lt. Terry Hastings, spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department, said about 30 officers went to the site about 2 p.m. Wednesday. By the time they arrived, most of the protesters had taken down their tents and removed their belongings, but a few tents and numerous wooden pallets remained.
Four protesters sat on chairs under a makeshift awning in the lot while others looked on from outside the lot.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“The chief came in, sat down with those four individuals, had a conversation with them, politely asked them to leave, and of course they said no. He then asked them if they would go with the officers, and they did,” Hastings said.
The officers, some wearing hazardous materials gear, proceeded to clear the site with the help of city firefighters and the city Public Works Department. Two portable toilets were carted off by the company that donated them.
The protesters had first occupied a spot in front of the Clinton presidential library for several days before the city asked the group to move to the city-owned lot. Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said Tuesday the city will need the lot as a place for tour buses to park during the summer. Riverfest, the city’s annual festival that draws thousands of revelers to downtown, will be held Memorial Day weekend.
“We’re sorry that it had to come to this, but with summer coming on, we need this lot for Riverfest and other events,” Hastings said Wednesday.
Greg Deckelman, a spokesman for the group and one of the four people arrested, said after his release he planned to sue the city over what he believed was a violation of his First Amendment rights.
“I believe that my constitutional rights say that I have the freedom of assembly on public land to redress grievances to my government,” he said.
Mac Miller, another spokesman for the group who was arrested along with Deckelman, said he was considering filing a lawsuit and planned to talk to a lawyer.
“(I was) standing up for my freedom to talk to my government, and that’s what I was arrested for,” Miller said.
Hastings said that despite the events of Wednesday, the relationship between the protesters and police has been cordial and cooperative.
“I think we have been a standard for the nation,” he said.
Adam Lansky, also an Occupy Little Rock spokesman, said that even though he knew it was coming, it was upsetting to watch police clear the site and bring the seven-month occupation to an end. He said the group will continue to be active but he did not know whether it would launch another open-ended occupation of public land.
“I think there are some people that are more interested in occupying public land, and I think there are some people that are more interested in pursuing the issues,” he said.