This morning, October 14th, San Diego Police made one arrest as they cleared tents and other personal property from the Civic Center Plaza where Occupy San Diego protesters have been camped out since last Saturday.
The arrest was of one demonstrator who resisted arrest.
Police had delivered the ultimatum Thursday afternoon, ordering all tents and other equipment to be removed by midnight last night. Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in the late evening, a dozen or so camped out amidst about six tents set up in the middle of the Plaza. Others linked arms and surrounded those willing to be arrested in protest of the removal of their tents. Earlier there had been as many as 100 tents at the site.
Midnight came and went and no arrests were made and police did not make a move. The move came this morning. Under the eyes of Police Chief Lansdowne, officers moved in and hauled the tents out. There was no violence as the protesters have maintained an aura of nonviolence during their entire stay downtown.
Most San Diego TV stations had cameras present when police moved in. Was this coincidence? Everyone knew that the SDPD would make their move, but no one knew when. Some speculated last night down at the site that the move would be at 4 am or 7 am this morning. The move came more like at 8. (Were the TV stations given prior notice in order to have the news of the tent clearing on the morning shows?)
Even as the numbers of demonstrators dwindled after the first batch of tents had been removed, another tent was set up and a bunch of people surrounded it. As of this report, there is no word about that particular tent.
Police had maintained that a dance show was coming into the Plaza on Saturday and the place needed to be cleaned up – and that is why the tents and other property had to be removed. Interestingly enough, it was the cleaning of the park in New York City where Occupy Wall Street protesters have been occupying for nearly 4 weeks as the reason demonstrators there were ordered out by midnight last night. Midnight came and went and thousands of people stayed in Liberty Park and nothing happened. The order to get out was then dropped.
Here in San Diego, the Police had told demonstrators earlier in the week that they would have to come up with options other than the “tent city” that had been erected. The implication being that the tents would have to go.
The Occupy San Diego actions will continue. Demonstrators in the Plaza have vowed not to leave – and Police have said that people will be allowed to stay and protest – just without their tents, tarps, and other equipment.
In addition, some of the Occupy folks have filtered up the hill to Balboa Park. There was at least two temporary locations where people had stayed the night last night. There were hopes that negotiations with police would result in an area within the park where demonstrators would be allowed to set up their tents and encampment.
Tents are illegal in all city parks, but Police had allowed the Plaza tents up and had indicated that there were areas in Balboa Park that they would allow as sites for the demonstrators.
Plus, some people had gone down to the park near the Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum as another alternative camping site. Some of the campers’ equipment had been taken there.
All the facilities that had been created by Occupy San Diego had also been removed by organizers. The kitchen and food line was hauled out. The kitchen had been serving from 500 to 1000 meals daily at the Plaza. Many locals and some homeless had joined demonstrators in the food line.
The medical tent, the “comfort station”, the media area, and the library had all been removed earlier by protesters to avoid the confiscation by police of any goods, foods, or other items that had been donated by supporters of the Occupy village. There had been a daily routine of donated foods coming in by random donors and delivered to the site.
We have just received an agenda for today, October 14th, of Occupy San Diego events.
Occupy San Diego- Re-Organize Agenda for Oct. 14, 2011
~~~7-9:30am Midway camp Breakfast Kitchen opens – (please if you are in food committee volunteer to help set up)
~~~10am-Organizational meeting at Balboa park (6th and Elm) – (all camps welcome, to coordinate action items and discuss next steps)
~~~Afternoon-Regroup and set up structures for Food, Medical, Logistics, Media, Outreach, Arts and Entertainment. (if you have volunteered for these commitees, the please come re-organize your committee’s campsite!)
~~~7pm– Occupy SD Unity Concert: Live music in the park by Liquid Blue. Let’s celebrate–It’s been one week since Occupy San Diego Started! Liquid Blue is performing a free concert tonight Friday, 10/14/11, 7 p.m. Balboa Park, SE area on Park near the World Beat Center.
Stay Strong, Healthy, and Open Minded! Occupy!
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Occupy San Diego- Re-Organize Agenda for Oct. 14, 2011
~~~7-9:30am Midway camp Breakfast Kitchen opens
(please if you are in food committee volunteer to help set up)
~~~10am-Organizational meeting at Balboa park (6th and Elm)
(all camps welcome, to coordinate action items and discuss next steps)
~~~Afternoon-Regroup and set up structures for Food, Medical, Logistics, Media, Outreach, Arts and Entertainment.
(if you have volunteered for these commitees, the please come re-organize your committee’s campsite!)
~~~7pm-Live music in the park by Liquid Blue. Let’s celebrate–It’s been one week since Occupy San Diego Started!
Stay Strong, Healthy, and Open Minded! Occupy!
Thanks Miro, we just reposted your comment of today’s agenda into the post.
There are people still holding the Civic Center space and they need more folks!
Ill be heading down from UCSD this afternoon. Please spread the word on facebook, email, etc!
Thank -U everybody who took a stand for our rights! God bless you for your support. I am glad to see that so many people are AWAKE! I took a stand for my protest : “END YOUR WAR ON DRUGS” . My signs were taken down, and my stuff was taken with the tents , BUT WE REMAIN. It is very important to stand up for our civil rights.
It was great to see a lot of people with different causes joining together in solidarity to defend our civil liberties.
But the way, the so called “police medietor, Alex, DID lie to us telling us that we had to leave when he handle the flyiers.
My advice at this point is to have one final parade,declare victory and go home. The debate has started,that is a productive start.
Mike Turco is right! I’ve been downtown since the 1st day. The message is clear and out there! Before someone gets hurt by pushing the issue of police brutality!
This is not about police.
OCCUPY SAN DIEGO was lied to, about the length of time, they would be allowed in the Plaza area.
Not the time to stoop to the lies of the San Diego police, administrators,council members,Sherrif Dept, the wonderful Hall of Justice that will prosecute you to whatever full extent they can, or will lie to make sure they get theirs,with facts or fiction.What good will come from everyone being arrested and taken to court in front of corrupt D.D.A’s, ineffective counsel from public defenders, Judges that allow any and all officers of the court to do things their way. Code of ethics,don’t exsist.
Message is out there! Discusion is out there! Debates are out there!
Occupy SAN DIEGO has done it’s job,thus far!
Yet the best this 1960’s demomstrator can tell you is: you can’t fix anything if you are arressted, hurt, beaten.
Call it a WIN! Battle won!
Retreat, re-coup,re-group,get better organized and then have at Wall Street and corporate greed. Have cameras everywhere at any and all angles taking video, keep FB up to date, live-stream always going,Twitter keep tweeting,not a person or word thats not seen or heard on each and every media outlet there is, keep getting the word out no matter to who.
Get stuff back from the police,they stoles citizens property,from a city place, city places are for citizens. They stole it because they can, and then you have do without
So be more prepared for the next OCCUPY SAN DIEGO, now those of you who don’t deal with police,mayors etc on a daily basis, you have also seen they are as corrupt as Wall Street ,Finantional Instituions,Corporations and 99.9 o/o polititians.
I’m dwntown right now and I know it will get uglier. Yet, I’m here with OCCUPY SAN DIEGO. Old demontrators know what and where the next blow will come from. Try to help those that won’t retreat.
As long as capitalist global corporations “own” and run the governments around the world, we will have no “victory” to declare.
The Occupy Wall Street protests have now, reportedly, spead to more than 900 towns in the USA and 80 other countries.
We have “just begun to fight.”
These sorts of protests are profoundly ineffective, and paint the opposition as stoner slobs. Who do the protesters think they’re up against – The local school board?
Their goal is to alter the balance of power away from the mightiest and wealthiest cabal that has ever existed on the planet. They think a handful of stinky tents in the civic center are adequately persuasive?
The power elite couldn’t have wished for a more unproductive task for the opposition to busy themselves with…they’ve “occupied” themselves! Ha!
how much did the local GOP pay you to post that comment? or do you believe in the delusional crap spewed by Fox News?
Occupy has already had an impact: there is even polling that shows their impact. Will change come quickly? Not a chance! Try reading a little Howard Zinn on the history of protest in the USA….
Hey, I’m a big fan of Zinn, and a liberal in heart and deed. But these protests are pointless if the extent is polite dissent. Potentially trillions of dollars are at stake, and they’re not going to budge merely to placate a few drum circles worth of rabble.
The largest peace protests in our nations history preceded the invasion of Iraq…did it work? Has even one single window been broken this time around?
The power elite have reason to believe they can wait this out.
From everything I read and understand, the OWS movement is committed to non-violence, including non-violent resistance/civil disobedience. And you are asking “Has even one single window been broken this time around? ” Wow.
So you want to stir shit up a la World Trade Organization protests in Seattle? That was a real game changer for the power elite…
Don’t think for a moment these protests are ineffective. They’re the MOST EFFECTIVE thing we can do .Exactly who do you think brought an end to the Vietnam War? It was US! It was the 99% who wouldn’t take it any more and got out in the streets and did something about it. Ghandi said, “First they ignore you,
then they ridicule you, then they fight you , then you win!” We’re ALREADY effective and we’ve just started!
These sorts of protests do not “paint the opposition as stoner slobs.” The media does that. I was down there yesterday; yes, there were a bunch of hippies. But there were also a whole lot of middle class, middle age lookin folks. These people never get media face time because the hippie element is ever so much more colourful and sneer-worthy.
You don’t know what you can acomplish unless you try! Obama won many votes by using twitter,facebook and other sites. I’ve dwntwn right now and there are no druggies or drunks that I see. There’s media and if you’re a druggie, you probably have a warrant for your arrest. May be last place some doper might want to be
One arrest of a demonstrator resisting arrest… What came first, the chicken or the egg?
So the occupysd.org website that’s been down for a day and a half now re-directs to the OB Rag – any word on what’s up with that?
I’m trying to get ahold of the web folks…
Thank you Patty, Frank and your OB Rag Blog crew. You guys are great!
The occupysandiego.org website is redirecting to us, although I have not spoken to any of them maybe they trust us to represent them for now, I don’t know. The occupysd.org website (which is a networking site for registered users) is in “Maintenance Mode” and has been for at least the last 24 hours.
Thanks for the update, Patty – when you talk to Frank next will you ask him if anyone on the ground knows what I can do with the truckload of food/medical supplies I was asked to transport to Midway but blocked by police there from unloading?
Dave- can you elaborate on that? Are these supplies for the Occupiers? And what’s the deal with the Midway location????
Anna – I found a secure location for the goods for the weekend, but need to find somewhere to move them tomorrow or Sunday. It’s a full truckload of materials I picked up from the Balboa splinter group before they were forced to abandon the camp there…Harbor Police stopped me from delivering to the Midway, where I was supposed to drop off.
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