Yesterday, OccupyMobile agreed to peacefully vacate Spanish Plaza.
The reason they did so was to make way for Veterans Day celebrations. They've made this very clear. They didn't want to prevent the veterans from using Spanish Plaza. At least 20 protesters form Occupy Pensacola joined them, and they attempted to re-base further away from down town, at Memorial Park.
At least 20 people from both occupations were arrested last night, violently. They sang God Bless America, This Land is Your Land, and Why Can't We Be Friends before the police moved in.
The protesters linked arms, and clung tightly to each other as the police pulled them apart, dragging at least one protester feet first down several stone steps, knocking his head against the stone.
These videos are hard to watch. They'll be up soon.
We're also getting reports of arrests out of several other smaller occupations, we can confirm raids in two cities, and are trying to verify raids in two more. Stay with us here, and we'll update you. We're editing video right now, which will be up shortly.
TheOther99 is committed to covering smaller Occupations. It's our mission to make sure that the whole world is watching our occupiers, no matter the size of the occupation. For too long, people in positions of authority have been able to count on a disinterested, lazy, news media. If our news companies wont do the job, we will. But we need your support to continue to do this work. Please contribute to our Ideas Lab, and make sure we have a place to do our work. If you want to know more about our situation, please read Jesse LaGreca's post, or send me a message here at Kos.
Crossposted at www.wearetheother99.com
8:47 AM PT: We're going to update step by step in this story. After being chased out of Spanish Plaza, Occupy Mobile and supporters from Occupy Pensacola attempted to regroup at Memorial Park.
The protesters linked arms, and sang. The police moved in.
8:52 AM PT: Here's the full 10 minute video:
There are other videos from other angles we'll be embedding shortly. For those who can't use youtube, in these videos, protestesters were warned that they were about to be arrested. They linked arms. They sang "God Bless America," "This Land is Your Land," and "Why Can't We Be Friends," before the officers pulled them apart.
8:55 AM PT: This is what happened next: the police approached, and began pulling the protesters apart. At about 50 seconds in this video, you can see the police pull one protester legs first down the memorial steps, his back and head impacting with the stone stairs.
8:57 AM PT: You can see the same thing at about 1:00 in this video, from a seperate camera:
9:03 AM PT: Here's a third angle. You can see the protester get dragged down the steps at about 1:30.
You can hear the crowd chanting "the whole world is watching," and shouting at the police "Stop hurting them! Don't break his arm, officer!"
9:19 AM PT:
Outside of the police station, family members can hear at least one protester begging the police to take his cuffs off.
The people listening in tell the camera that the person inside was begging to have his cuffs taken off because they were so tight they were cutting into his wrists.
"Please please please! Oh my god please! Please please please take these cuffs off!" Another voice speaks to the person inside. All I can hear is "You know what?" Repeated.
Someone approaches the people standing outside of the station, and asks them to move. The video cuts out.
11:19 AM PT: In addition to Mobile, we're covering arrests at OccupyHouston:
http://www.dailykos.com/...