Occupy Atlanta: APD responsible for
two injuries and malicious arrest
(Rob Redding interviews Liliana Bakhtiari and Dee,
who were arrested in Atlanta's Woodruff Park on Nov. 5, 2011)
By Robert "Rob" Redding Jr.
Editor & Publisher
ATLANTA, Nov. 6,
2011, 9 a.m.
- An Occupy Atlanta protester this
morning tells of two injuries and malicious arrests, during a
protest at a downtown Atlanta park last night.
In a phone call made just hours after her arrest at
Woodruff Park, Liliana Bakhtiari told Redding News Review that
police indiscriminately "grabbed" random people to increase the
number of arrest.
"A lot of these people had nothing to do with the
movement," Bakhtiari said. "They grabbed them because they needed
numbers."
Speaking to Redding News Review from jail, she
said a man suffered cuts on his face and a woman was struck in the
face by a police officer.
"It was much more forceful than it was last time,"
Bakhtiari said, "which was honestly unnecessary considering that a
lot of things that they charged us for they were responsible for.
Getting charged with obstructing traffic I found ridiculous, because
of the fact that cops where on those horses, they were on their
motorcycles and they in turn hit a young man. You shouldn't accuse
us of the crimes you are committing."
Story
continues below ↓
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Bakhtiari, and a man named Dee, were selected by
Occupy Atlanta to be arrested in Woodruff Park, as the others went into
the street to protest. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed had promised anyone
remaining in the parking after its 11 p.m. closing time would be arrested.
Occupy Atlanta's Tim Franzen said that the police used an
officer on a motorcycle bike to taunt the crowd.
"It is was a clearly a tactic on the police side to provoked
the crowd to make a riot situation," said Franzen. "They never got what they wanted but that
was defiantly an attempt to provoke the crowd, which is scary."
There were 19 arrests at the protest. There were seven women
and 12 men arrested. There were at least two journalist among those in custody.
Occupy Atlanta has sought and received the help of leading
civil rights activists, including Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson spoke to the group
hours before the arrests were made. Jackson left before the arrests. Friday, Jackson and Occupy
Atlanta also marched on SunTrust.
Atlanta Police Public Affairs Manager Carlos Campos could not be
immediately reached for comment at press time.
Listen to the interview:
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