Occupation Wellington arrests

Occupy Wellington protesters arrested

Stuff,

1 February, 2012

Two more arrests have been made at the Occupy Wellington site where a Molotov cocktail was found this morning.

Police were called just before 10am and arrested two remaining protesters, Inspector Paris Razos said.

"That followed an incident where we were called to assist council staff who were down at the site."

One person was charged with assault and disorderly behaviour and the other with offensive behaviour.

Both were due to appear in Wellington District Court this afternoon.

Another protester was arrested and charged with assault overnight, the day after Wellington City Council evicted about 20 remaining campers from the City to Sea Bridge

.

Rain appears to have driven the protesters from the site and the council has completely fenced off the area on the bridge.

A wine bottle filled with petrol was found at the City to Sea Bridge this morning. CCTV footage was being reviewed and inquiries were on going, Razos said.

Protesters yesterday insisted they would not move from the site until people listened to their grievances.

They had not put tents up last night after being forced to pull them down and remove their belongings yesterday morning.

Wellington City Council shut down the camp, which it said breached a bylaw that prohibits camping in public spaces. Written and verbal requests to vacate the site were repeatedly ignored.

"The council has been reasonable with the campers throughout this process but the occupation became a way of life," director of citizen engagement Wendy Walker said.

"Camping on this site is in direct breach of Council's bylaw and could not continue indefinitely,"

A handful of protesters planned to shift their headquarters to a flat on The Terrace and vowed to occupy the bridge on a rostered basis, and protester Benjamin Easton said the group planned to go back to the site with blankets and tarpaulins.

"Today it's 108 [days], tomorrow it's 109 ... We're not leaving, we're just going to be people, humans just occupying the space. We can be here or anywhere."

The council denied the eviction was carried out because of the Wellington Sevens tournament starting on Friday.

It was keeping a watching brief on the remaining protesters and would take action if they set up on public property again, spokesman Richard MacLean said.

"If they want to just 'occupy' somewhere, without the support of tents or similar, then depending on precisely how they do it, it's not necessarily against the law. But it's a hypothetical situation at the moment."

More than 20 security guards wearing blue rubber gloves served notices at 6.30am yesterday, giving the protesters 30 minutes to pull down tents and remove belongings.

About 15 police were on hand to ensure the situation remained peaceful, which it was except for threats of violence and obscenities directed at media.