Police arrest 15 from Occupy Philadelphia
Police said they arrested nine men, five women and one transgender person from Occupy Philadelphia today for obstructing the highway after the group took to occupying the street near police headquarters around 5 p.m. Saturday and refused to budge.
Police said they arrested nine men, five women and one transgender person from Occupy Philadelphia today for obstructing the highway after the group took to occupying the street near police headquarters around 5 p.m. Saturday and refused to budge.
The group of 15 were blocking traffic on 8th Street near Race for hours and even put up a canopy on the street, forcing cops to close the roadway, police said.
According to a statement on Occupy Philadelphia's Facebook page, the group was taking part in a "national day of action to bring awareness to police brutality."
In the statement, Occupy Philadelhpia notes that the 15 people who participated "individually chose" to conduct their protest and that their list of demands did not speak for Occupy Philadelphia as a whole.
Among the groups many and detailed demands were that police end their "stop and frisk policy," that the "racist, classist, ageist Emergency Curfew Law" be repealed and that the city re-open the case against Mumia Abu-Jamal.