Activists from Occupy Charlottesville in Central VA, who had been camped in the city's Lee Park for the past two months, were evicted by Charlottesville police early this morning. The eviction had been expected, and members of the Occupation who chose to remain and be arrested had been given civil disobedience instruction earlier in the day. They were additionally advised to sit beneath the lights at the park's edge so that legal advisors would be able to witness their arrests.
Police began handing out summonses shortly after midnight before arresting a small group of demonstrators who chose to remain seated on the ground with their arms interlocked. The officers, who were on foot and not wearing helmets or other riot gear, walked through the camp handing out eviction notices before announcing that any demonstrators choosing to remain would be cited and arrested. They then waited another 30 minutes before removing a few remaining tents, writing out summonses and making arrests. Arrests proceeded gradually, with four officers lifting and carrying out most demonstrators. A few of the demonstrators went so limp that police carried them out on stretchers. Eighteen were arrested in all.
Journalists were made to stand across the street while the police cleared the park. Standing alongside the journalists were a number of Occupy Charlottesville supporters who chose not to be arrested. Those supporters cheered, shouted out messages of encouragement, filmed arrests, and "mic-checked" passages from the "Declaration of the Occupation of New York City" and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Occupy Charlottesville had been issued a permit in October that allowed them to stay in the park legally until just before Thanksgiving. During that time, some members of the community complained that the tents and signs in Lee Park, a small square with an equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee in its center, were an eyesore and needed to be removed. Likewise, members of the Jefferson Area Tea Party, headquartered in adjacent Albemarle County, repeatedly expressed their belief that the Occupiers were receiving special privileges from the city of Charlottesville, a traditionally Democratic area of the state.
As a result, City Council ruled on November 21st that the Occupation would need to re-locate its camp to some other area of the city so that Lee Park's 11 p.m.--8 a.m. curfew could once again be enforced. This was despite the strong backing of City Council member Kristin Szakos, who observed that, "The Occupation is speech, and free speech doesn't end at 11 o'clock. And it doesn't end after Thanksgiving." (Councilwoman Szakos stood with other movement supporters last night, watching until each occupier who had chosen to be arrested was cuffed and driven away.)
Prior to the eviction notice, Democratic Mayor David Norris, in a somewhat surprising move, enlisted the advice of local Rutherford Institute founder John Whitehead (of Paula Jones lawsuit fame) as to where demonstrators might move. Whitehead suggested that in order to maintain the visibility that the First Amendment intends, demonstrators ought to move from Lee Park to a location at the end of the city's Downtown Mall, an outdoor, pedestrian-only business area lined with stores, restaurants, an ice rink, hotel, concert pavilion and, notably, City Hall.
Statues of three of Virginia's most famous sons--Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and James Madison--stand in bas-relief in front of Charlottesville City Hall, as does a monument honoring the principles propounded by those three founders. That monument, a large chalkboard known as "The Free Speech Wall" is one of the city's most popular sites. On it, locals and visitors alike are invited to write messages of their own choosing. Whitehead advised that the Free Speech Wall would be a logical and suitably-prominent place for Occupy Charlottesville to continue its protest.
Instead, however, Occupiers voted to move to the George Rogers Clark Monument, a block away from the Rotunda at Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia. If they found themselves evicted from that site, they agreed that they would follow Whitehead's suggestion and move their Occupation to the Free Speech Wall. Late yesterday afternoon, however, in a pre-emptive move to keep would-be Occupiers away, UVA posted notice that the Clark Monument is located on university grounds and any demonstrators moving there would be cited for trespassing and summarily evicted. Occupy Charlottesville has thus announced that it will be moving to the Free Speech Wall.
That location, on the city's Mall, will make the Occupation far more visible than it was at Lee Park. In addition, it will mean that demonstrators will be in the middle of the city's primary shopping area during the busiest retail season of the year. If local merchants complain, as some already have, the Democratic enclave that is Charlottesville might soon find itself in the uncomfortable position of having to arrest demonstrators for exercising their Constitutional right to free speech directly in front of the city's beloved Free Speech Wall. . .while the likenesses of three outspoken men instrumental in guaranteeing Occupiers that right to free speech look on from the sidelines.