Early this evening I received a tweet saying the fences were down at Chapman and Lowensdale Square Parks. I pedaled my way down there and lo and behold the parks were no longer caged away from the public. The fenced areas around the River Walk Park have also been released.
The fences around Chapman and Lownsdale Squares have finally been removed! Join Occupy Portland in celebrating the return of the parks to the people.
What: Potluck Picnic in Our Park! Bring food to share, musical instruments, art material and signs reminding the city of your freedom of speech and assembly.
When: This Sunday, Feb 5 at 12 Noon.
Where: Chapman Square at SW 4th and Main st.
Why: Most people agree that there’s a lot wrong with our world. We share your of frustration towards its many injustices and our politicians who don’t work towards the people’s interests. The time has come to say enough, to change this by organizing together, sharing resources, knowledge and ideas.
What better way to do this than in an open, accessible, public space with a history of political protest? The city took away the public’s right to assemble in these parks for more than two months when they fenced them off. Those fences are now down and we must reassert those rights and engage the people of Portland in that dialogue so that we can affect real change together, as a community.
Please Note: It is not our current intention to re-occupy or set up an encampment.
I took a video of the first Occupiers that marched over from the Office on the East side of the river:
I also got a couple of pictures. I would like to make a series from this perspective to show the movement growing as Occupiers return to the place of the first Occupation.
12:59 AM PT: There was also there a gentleman there named "Glen" who was arrested at the beginning of this video. He has three pages written out explaining his arrest. For JAYWALKING! As we were standing there he was discussing how he was not resisting. How he was twisted and kicked. Including how the officer to his right held his arm out of the way so he could more accurately kick him in the torso. The livestreamer has that discussion, I'm still trying to find that in the livestream history.
1:57 AM PT: Here is the video referenced above where the gentleman talks about how he was arrested. That portion starts at around 9:30: