Under the watchful eye of the Albany Police, members of the Albany Department of General Services remove the tents and anything related to the encampment of Occupy Albany from Academy Park in Albany, N.Y. Dec. 22, 2011.
Posted on 12/23/2011 2:58:21 PM PST by NYer
Under the watchful eye of the Albany Police, members of the Albany Department of General Services remove the tents and anything related to the encampment of Occupy Albany from Academy Park in Albany, N.Y. Dec. 22, 2011.
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Mayor-police-chief-defend-action-to-dismantle-2421993.php#ixzz1hOuP6mea
ALBANY — Mayor Jerry Jennings on Friday morning defended the city's dismantling of the Occupy Albany encampment, saying he believes police officers showed restraint and that the protesters forced they city's hand.
"There was no legal ambush," Jennings said Friday morning on his weekly radio show on Talk 1300. "Everybody that was involved in this knew that the deadline was the 22nd."
Acting on a court order issued earlier Thursday by state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi, city workers moved in and began disassembling the two-month old encampment in Academy Park across from City Hall.
A confrontation over the protest's final tent prompted police to pepper-spray some of the demonstrators, triggering accusations that police used excessive force.
Jennings defended the officers' actions in enforcing a court order and said that, unlike elsewhere, no one was seriously injured.
"All hell didn't break loose. I didn't go in the middle of the night like they did in other cities," Jennings said. "Our guys, they did show restraint."
Still, Jennings said police Chief Steven Krokoff would review accusations of excessive force and urged callers who claimed to have been brutalized to share the video recordings of the incidents with the police department Office of Professional Standards.
"I'm sure that the chief of police will look at everything that took place," he said.
Jennings insisted there was "no planned force" and that the protesters forced their hands.
"We had no alternative. As far as I'm concerned, we did what we had to do," he said. "If they had cooperated with us, there wouldn't have been any problems."
Krokoff said only one officer used pepper spray and most protesters were committed to being peaceful while a minority wanted conflict.
He defended the use of pepper-spray by the mounted officer, saying a protester reached for his horse's reins.
The use of pepper spray "most definitely prevented serious injuries" to officers and members of an "angry mob," the chief said.
Around 11:30 Friday, Academy Park remained empty as a lone protester with a yellow sign reading "Greed" picketed on the sidewalk at City Hall.
According to other news sources, the police were attacked by the protesters, landing one police officer in the hospital.
I would think them well-trained horses to take being in the vicinity of the pepper-spray and not buck. Of course, being in the immediate vicinity of smelly hippies without bucking is rather admirable as well ;-)
As much as I detest the occupy parasites, I think letting the weather clear them out in Albany NY might have been a better decision. A couple of -15F nights in the end of Jan would do wonders in moving them on.
Thanks NYer.
This reminds me of the Occupy L.A. eviction, which occurred only after two months of commie scum committing over $1 million in damages to City Hall Park via their encampment.
LAPD performed the most elegant minuet ever by a police department, delaying their deployment after plentiful warnings and notifications. Finally, hazmat crews came in to finish the job.
Still, the “movement” is screaming “police brutality” and the police are on the defensive... absolutely PATHETIC.
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