On Tuesday, UNM and Albuquerque police arrested 37 people after (Un)Occupy protesters opted to remain in Yale Park despite an expired permit.
Yesterday, SFR reported that members of (Un)Occupy Albuquerque met with University of New Mexico officials to appeal the expiration of the permit that, since Oct. 1, has allowed them to camp and demonstrate at Yale Park, a public space on the UNM campus. The permit was set to expire at 10 pm last night.
The university rejected their appeal.
At a 6 pm general assembly, (Un)Occupy members gathered to discuss their options. Ben Warren, a protester who was in attendance and has been active with the movement in past weeks, says the movement decided to continue demonstrating at the park, even without a permit.
Warren says that as the 10 pm deadline approached, approximately 60 police cars—about half from Albuquerque Police Department and half from the university's police force—surrounded the park.
Between 200 and 300 people showed up to demonstrate, Warren says, but most of them moved aside as police began to make arrests.
"They pushed us out [of the park] until they got to the place where folks were sitting, linking arms," Warren says. Those who weren't arrested poured out onto Central Ave., downtown Albuquerque's main artery, where they shouted slogans such as "The whole world is watching" and "Show me what a police state looks like!"
According to UNM spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair, UNM police arrested 35 protesters. Albuquerque Police Public Information Officer Sgt. Trish Hoffman tells SFR that APD arrested another two protesters.
Despite appeals from protesters and even state Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, Blair says UNM officials have not, to her knowledge, received another permit extension request from protesters or considered offering them a permit renewal.
(Un)Occupy Albuquerque will meet again tonight at 6 pm in Yale Park to discuss its future plans.
"One thing's for sure: We're not going away," Warren says.
Below, scroll through SFR's chronicle of what happened last night.
