Local participants in a national resistance movement vowed to continue to "occupy" Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Sacramento through the weekend, despite the arrests of 20 demonstrators Thursday night.
The demonstrators were charged with "failure to disperse," a misdemeanor, after officers ordered them to leave the park around midnight, said Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Andrew Pettit.
They spent the night in jail and emerged in the morning to the cheers of fellow participants in the Occupy Sacramento movement, an offshoot of a national protest against large corporations and Wall Street power.
Last night, the Occupy Sacramento group, composed of the unemployed, students, and workers, were told to move from the park late last night by Sacramento police.
Most complied, but police took 19 Occupy protesters who would not vacate the downtown park to jail.
Paul Burke, Outreach chair of Sacramento DSA was among those arrested. Burke is also one of the chairs of the Sacramento Progressive Alliance. Www.sacramentopa.blogspot.com
A camp in the park was being set up to provide the arrested with food and water . The encampment has grown to over 200 today. They will face arrest again tonight if they refuse to vacate the part.
The Occupation continues in Cesar Chavez Park at this time. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has made no comment on the occupation. In other cities Democratic Mayors have prevented arrests for camping.