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Demonstrators demand the gap be bridged in part with tax increases, not just with cuts to social services, schools and the like. The State Patrol says most have expressed those sentiments peacefully. But there have been confrontations with a few in the Occupy movement.
Of 11 people arrested Tuesday, six are accused of disorderly conduct, most for disrupting a budget hearing.
Committee chairman Sen. Ed Murray temporarily halted the proceedings. “I’m actually sympathetic to the point they are making, but we have to have a civil dialogue,” said the Seattle Democrat. It was “a little tough today” to have a civil dialogue.
Five more were arrested for allegedly returning to the Capitol Campus after receiving no-trespass warnings. Troopers handed out the warnings Monday to 30 demonstrators who refused to leave the Legislative Building after it closed for the night. On Tuesday, the building was emptied without incident.
Mark Taylor-Canfield doesn’t intend to let the no-trespass order he received stop him from returning. The Occupy Seattle activist said he doesn’t believe the 30-day ban is legal.
“I’m going to have to call their bluff,” said Taylor-Canfield, who also is reporting on the movement as a freelance writer. “If I committed a crime, then arrest me and charge me.”
Among those arrested Monday were three alleged to have committed assault as they tried to push their way into the closed Legislative Building. The patrol said two troopers were bitten and four suffered bumps and bruises, but Lt. Mark Arras said all returned to work Tuesday.
A Department of Enterprise Services worker’s ribs were bruised and his face was injured. The injuries kept the man away from work Tuesday.
During the same scuffle, a trooper shocked three demonstrators by touching them with the end of his stun gun. Later Monday evening, as protesters tried to block a bus hauling arrested suspects to the Thurston County jail, stun guns were deployed again.
Sgt. J.J. Gundermann said the weapons were used not to disperse the crowd of perhaps 75 protesters blocking the bus, but only on those who resisted.
“They were definitely pushing and shoving us,” Gundermann said.
A judge set bail Tuesday afternoon for the assault suspects, one of whom is identified in court as a 26-year-old veteran and Occupy Tacoma participant. Two of the three were ordered held in jail; the third was released on his recognizance.
Occupy the Capitol protesters felt troopers used “excessive force”, said Taylor-Canfield. He said he talked to one young man who told him he was stunned multiple times near the bus as the group was “attacked by police.”
Eric Finch, an organizer with Washington Community Action Network, sees no problems with how troopers have kept order. “Generally, they’re doing their best,” he said.
Finch did disagree with Gov. Chris Gregoire and Enterprise Services’ decision to close the Capitol at night. Officials allowed a sit-in last April to last through the night as protesters slept under the eye of troopers.
Enterprise Services Director Joyce Turner said officials “learned a lot of lessons” from those April protests, which she said started out peaceful but “changed in tenor” dramatically.
Separate from the overnight demonstrations, 17 people were arrested in April in a protest organized by Service Employees International Union 775 Northwest, which included an attempt to storm Gregoire’s office.
Gregoire’s spokeswoman, Karina Shagren, said the governor respects protesters’ First Amendment rights but is concerned about the cost of keeping the building open.
“It’s costing a lot of money,” she said.
The patrol released totals Tuesday for the money spent the day before to have troopers stand guard and evict protesters. In addition to overtime and travel costs, the patrol counted $76,000 in regular pay for troopers who would have been working regardless of the demonstrations.
“The day to day work of troopers is important, or we wouldn’t have them doing it,” Lt. Arras said in a news release. “If your car broke down (Monday) and you sat beside the freeway for an extended period, that soft cost suddenly has a very real impact.”
Jordan Schrader: 360-786-1826
jordan.schrader@thenewstribune.com
Brad Shannon: 360-753-1688
bshannon@theolympian.com
