WASHINGTON- Occupy DC’s daylong standoff with police and numerous arrests of protesters Sunday thrust Washington’s McPherson Square into the national spotlight.
Major media outlets were on hand to witness National Park Police moving in after protesters erected a large, barn-like structure around 11:30 a.m., according to protester Ryan Gomez.
At the end a long standoff with police, 31 protesters had been arrested, including 15 for crossing police lines and 16 for failure to obey a lawful order. An additional protester was charged with indecent exposure, resisting arrest and urinating in public, according to public informational officer David Schlosser.
The structure had been approved by the group’s general assembly as a meeting place during the winter months, said Gomez.
“We needed to have our assemblies and it’s going to get cold around here, you know,” he said.
According to Schlosser, a building inspector found the structure to be out of compliance with safety regulations.
“Park Police had concerns about the structural integrity of the building,” he said.
The last of those arrested had climbed on the roof of the structure. Police used a cherry picker to remove them.
The arrests mark the first large-scale clash between occupiers and police.
Kiki Green was among those arrested earlier in the day.
“We cut down the police line and walked across to be in the house with the others that were in there who knew they were going to get arrested,” she said. “But by the time we got to the house, they arrested us.”
Green said they stayed in custody for several hours.
Civil Rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory was also in McPherson Square for most of the day, addressing the crowd at one point to say that there was little difference between the attention occupiers saw last night from the news media and that of the Civil Rights era.
“This is the same thing that we were doing when we had a movement. People came from all over the world People came in from the Vatican,” he said. “You can’t lose when you’re right.”
According to Schlosser, last night’s fracas won’t have any effect on how Park Police will deal with the occupation in the future.
He said the department “handles each instance as a separate issue.”
On the other hand, protesters themselves don’t see the incident slowing down the momentum of their movement.
“It’s not going to stop. It’s a movement. It’s in full force; people are ready to go. People are ready for change,” said Jared Madden, a 19-year-old George Washington University student.