Occupy members describe arbitrary arrests in wee hours

Two Occupy Philly members described the eventual arrests that took place the wee hours of the morning as arbitrary and involuntary on the part of protesters.

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Occupy members describe arbitrary arrests in wee hours

POSTED: Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 5:02 PM
Filed Under: News

This just in: Two Occupy Philly members described the eventual arrests that took place the wee hours of the morning as arbitrary and involuntary on the part of protesters.

Diane Akerman, a member of the group's legal collective — and who hadn't intended to get herself arrested — says that as the night wore on, and the group moved from Center City up broad street to Spring Garden, the behavior of the police began to change.

"It was becoming obvious to us that the way they were acting was changing," says Akerman. "They were obviously trying to surround us and get more aggressive."

As the group turned onto 15th street, she says, they found themselves penned-in from all sides. When Akerman, who tried to leave via the back of the crowd (that's how CP exited earlier that evening), she says police didn't allow her to leave, and wouldn't say whether she was risking arrest.

Eventually, she says, the crowd was split by a line of police in the middle into two groups. Police then began grabbing people from one of the groups — and not the other — and arresting them. 

The choice, she says, seemed arbitrary.

Jesse Kudler, also present on the scene (and who also avoided arrest) agrees.

"They penned in the entire march, then arbitrarily let everyone on one sidewalk go," before arresting the others, he says.

"it was totally random, sudden, and arbitrary given the events previous," he wrote in an email. "It seemed obviously timed to guarantee we were gone by morning rush hour."

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