Interest declared: I'm part of the Occupy Irvine/Occupy OC movement -- which can be found at this Facebook page and this website. (Yes, we know we need social media help. You can volunteer. I'm on the Legal and Civic Liaison Committees. I've been one of three liaisons who has been meeting with Irvine city officials and with Irvine police for over a week. As usual for Occupy movements, the opinions expressed below represent solely myself.
I've probably been the most vocal proponent at our General Assemblies of the idea that Occupy Irvine -- as one of the few suburban 24/7 Occupy movements in the country -- should not commence civil disobedience while there is a reasonable chance that we could, like Los Angeles, get permission from the city to occupy the lawn outside of its City Hall.
People have, very reluctantly, accepted this; this seems to be out of deference to my being a lawyer. No civil disobedience has as yet taken place in Irvine; what we have demonstrated instead, on the corner on which the City Hall stands, is stubborn tenacity: we are not leaving.
Unlike our sister demonstrations in Long Beach, San Diego, Sacramento, and elsewhere, there have been no citations or arrests, no police in riot gear. In our discussions, we've heard only the dulcet tones of how Irvine cherishes and wants to facilitate free speech. We've taken no step towards being anything other than the "good neighbors" that the Irvine community cherishes, because we want to fit in with and transform this community and its neighbors in coastal Orange County; We're in this not only to show solidarity with OWS, but to change remote and insular Orange County's sense of itself.
So demonstrators, continuously for more than a week as of this morning, have scrupulously followed the law. This is what Irvine has now done to those following the law.
YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!
Reports from the scene are that, this morning over a period of 45 minutes starting at about 9 a.m., the City of Irvine turned on the sprinklers in the segment of the lawn outside of its City Hall where protesters have spent the past week. Protesters have been on the lawn during "park" opening hours between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. continuously since early last Saturday, Oct. 15., and have spent each night from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. continuously on the sidewalks adjacent to the lawn at the corner of Harvard Avenue and Alton Parkway.
Protesters were lawfully assembled there this morning as part of the Occupy Orange County protests. The 45-minute soaking, interrupted two or three times for 2-3 minutes apiece, presumably destroyed thousands of dollars' worth of electronic equipment (including amplifiers, a television, and laptop computers) as well as a 5000-watt generator. This equipment was described as "drenched," as were the blankets, sleeping bags, and other daytime camping equipment that had been moved onto the lawn.
Demonstrators had been given no warning of the impending watering of the lawn during the time that the park was open. They were particularly surprised to be drenched because so far they have been entirely law-abiding and had not even begun to engage in civil disobedience. Faced with an extremely unusual willingness of protesters to follow the law, Irvine has taken a step that other cities have only taken when they have faced civil disobedience.
This correspondent, as part of the Civic Liaison Committee for Occupy Irvine, had met with Irvine government and police officials on Thursday and participated in an hour-long follow-up teleconference on Friday. At that time the City of Irvine was informed that Occupy Irvine was happy to work with the city to ensure that they could move around the expanse of lawn, of which they occupy only a small portion, as necessary to provide lawn care, and that pledges had also been made to fund re-sodding the lawn as need be. Sprinklers at the "park" have, over the past week (and reportedly before) been used only during the hours that the park has been closed.
Photographs of the scene outside the City Center will be forthcoming soon.
This is what has happened to protesters who have tried to cooperate.
12:30 PM PT: UPDATE: Rally at Harvard Ave. and Alton Pkwy (the corner outside of Irvine City Hall) is set for 3:00 today!
12:44 PM PT: I can see why people might shrug this off, so I'll explain: this sort of thing does not happen in coastal Orange County. (Of course, this sort of sustained round-the-clock protest is unknown here as well.) It may happen in Santa Ana or Fullerton, but not in Irvine and its neighbors like Newport Beach.
If one is engaged in unlawful protest, one can expect to be slammed for it. But lawful protest -- what they claim to respect and want -- does not receive this sort of reaction. I think that the community will be shocked by it.
2:16 PM PT: FRESH REPORT FROM THE FIELD: Irvine police have come out and said that they don't know what happened, they don't know who was in control of the sprinklers, and that they have turned off the water until Monday to prevent any recurrence. Make of that what you will.