Now, police may want to do this and they may go ahead and do this BUT... They should not do this. Both because there is clear legal precedence on this and because it just is not a smart political move for them. (More below the fold)
We may need to get ready to help bail out some of them... The police have threatened to arrest them if they are there, tents and all, in the "morning". Lawyers were there explaining the rights to the people that are camping out.
Yes... They may choose to arrest them but apparently there is a Second Circuit decision from 2000 that does protect their rights to protest there, tents and all. And you can thank the New York City homeless for that.
Lawyers are working on getting an injunction to stop the police, and they seem confident they can get it considering the legal precedence involved... But before they can get an injunction some people may end up getting arrested.
So it all amounts to harassing protesters needlessly. And before you spread this around to other Occupations:
Not all states are protected by this Second Circuit decision.
And whether or not the Hartford police choose to act still remains in question. They may just be making threats in the hopes people leave.
I have some video that I will be trying to upload (hopefully the sound is good as I was further away from the speakers than I would like to have been) that covers some of what they discussed in as far as legal aspects. In the meantime... [video added]
Anyone got a contact in Hartford city hall that may be able to stop this?
Tactically for the police and the government? Ignoring protesters' clear rights will not look too good politically.
Because they can arrest them and force the protesters to get an injunction to keep the police from doing it again... Or the police could do it the easy way and just let the protesters be, rights intact and all.
DAY 4- Late Monday afternoon Chief of Police Darryl K Roberts came to Turning Point Park and told us that we need to take the tents down first thing Tuesday morning (Oct.11). At the same time, he also informed us that City Officials would like to have a meeting with us. During the General Assembly, the consensus was that we would take down the tents at 7am and meet with them Tuesday, late afternoon.
It is absolutely necessary that we get as many people down to the occupied park! We especially need a critical mass of people here at 7pm for a solidarity rally, but we also encourage folks to come down at any point in the day.
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