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Police break up Occupy Riverside camp for 2nd time this month
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Lollie Reynolds (holding sign) was among dozens of Occupy Riverside protestors rousted from a downtown encampment Wednesday morning. Reynolds and other protestors vowed to return.
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Steven Cuevas/KPCC
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Hours after police cleared the Occupy encampment in front of Los Angeles City Hall, authorities in Riverside moved in on a smaller encampment in Riverside. They cleared about 90 people from the downtown area and arrested three. The Occupiers are determined to return.
Riverside police officers swept through the encampment in an outdoor plaza near City Hall just after sunrise. They ordered about 90 people to take down about 30 tents or face arrest. Most people, including Russell Haynes and Lollie Reynolds, complied.
“We managed to pack and move most of the stuff off the premises 'cause there were a lot of cops and they were pretty insistent," Haynes said. "So to keep from starting a big, big commotion we just put down all our stuff and took it away, but it’s all stored and safe around here and we’re gonna bring it back later. He added that he would be sleeping there tonight.
"We come back tonight bigger and stronger, we rebuild," Reynolds said.
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About a dozen Occupy protestors lingered in the plaza afterward. A couple dozen police offers assembled nearby to make sure the last of the campers had cleared out their tents and other belongings.
Police lieutenant Guy Toussaint says the demonstrators may continue to protest, but they can’t pitch tents or operate an outdoor food kitchen. “If they want to be here to demonstrate, they are welcome to do that," Toussaint said. "We afford them their amendment rights to do those things, they just have to follow the rules as far as how to legally demonstrate."
Toussaint says that, if they start demonstrating again, "There is a maintenance program in place and they will be asked to remove their tents, and if they don’t, they will be arrested.”
Police arrested three people for not complying with officers’ orders. Toussaint says the department will step up patrols of the downtown plaza to prevent another Occupy encampment from taking root.
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