Nine members of the Occupy movement, including two N.C. State students, were
arrested in a home foreclosure protest at a home in Southeast Raleigh.
Jim Sughrue , Director of Public Affairs for the Raleigh Police Department released
that several suspects broke into the foreclosed residence at 2633 Pebble Meadow
Ln., Raleigh.
Monday night, two others, including Ryan Thomson, graduate student in sociology
and anthropology were arrested after revisiting the scene.
“We did a good job for the most part, nine were arrested today,” Thomson said.
Thomson said that the protest of what Occupy called a faked bank foreclosure was
a success and by the end of Monday night, marked 52 arrests on the Occupy Raleigh
timeline.
“Upon arrival, the officers determined that an unknown number of suspects had
broken into the residence and that others were on property outside the home,”
Sughrue said in the release.
According to Occupy Raleigh’s website, protesters came to the home in protest of
an “illegal foreclosure” in which the owner was ordered to move out by last Sunday.
The family who was ordered to leave decided to defy the order which they felt was
wrong.
The property was foreclosed upon in early 2011 according to Sughrue, and the
current property owner had not authorized the group to be in the home or on the
property.
“The police don’t care that the bank faked the foreclosure, they were just following
orders,” Thomson said.
Thomson said that although not all police officers were harsh against protesters,
there were an excessive amount of police forces, including the S.W.A.T. Team,
helicopters and city police.
“An announcement was made to those outside the home indicating that if they
did not wish to be arrested they should move to a sidewalk on the opposite side
of the street. The majority of the group did so; however, five suspects who did not
were taken into custody and transported to the Wake County Jail on second degree
trespassing charges,” Sughrue said in the release.
Two suspects that were in the house, were additionally arrested for trespassing
after cooperating with police.
Among the arrested was Rachel Powell, graduate student in sociology and
anthropology.
Sughrue said that he hopes that similar events will be avoided in the future.
“Breaking and entering and refusing to leave creates a “barricaded-subject”
situation for responding officers, raising safety concerns for all involved. Such
concerns prompted Chief of Police Harry Dolan and other police leaders to sincerely
hope that today’s tactic is not one that will be repeated,” Sughrue said in the release.
Thomson said that the event marks another turning point in the movement, and that
the arrests signify progress within Occupy Raleigh.
“Despite the fact that they keep on arresting people, it only strengthens us,”
Thomson said.
As the day of protest drew to a close, Thomson reflected upon the Occupy
movement as a whole.
“This is just another node in the student movement here in North Carolina. In
preventing falsified foreclosures, preventing tuition hikes It’s all the same and NCSU
recognizes that,” Thomson said.