UNMPD closed Yale Park to (un)Occupy protesters, UNM students and staff for the second day in a row Thursday. Protesters say this is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
City Councilor Rey Garduño said he supports the protesters’ plight.
“It’s silly to criminalize folks who are really demonstrating that they have rights and that the First Amendment has not been recalled that I know of,” he said. “I haven’t heard of anyone even thinking about making public areas not welcome to public, except in this very case.”
Garduño said he issued a proclamation in support of the movement to the City Council, and plans to address the issue again at the next City Council meeting Nov. 7.
“I will have some questions on the seventh about this show of force and including the Albuquerque Police Department,” he said.
“That is something I have complete jurisdiction over and have the right to question why that kind of force, show of force, is needed.”
Protester Barbara Grothus said she is grateful for Garduño’s support.
“I’m really happy to see our elected officials,” she said. “I’m happy to see representatives from the government.”
Grothus said she and other protesters spoke with Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry Thursday about the battle over Yale Park and whether protesters might be able to move to another park.
“We talked about the possibility of whether or not city parks might be welcoming,” she said. “I was heartened that he wants to support our constitutional rights.”
Despite the presence of nearly 20 UNMPD and APD officers at Yale Park, protesters held their nightly general assembly meeting and a teach-in on a small corner of the park and the sidewalk nearby.
“This corner is kind of our compromise with them,” UNMPD Lt. Trace Peck said. “Higher ups have told us to keep the park clear, which we are, but they wanted to hold a teach-in of some sort so we’re letting them have this space as their pulpit.”
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Peace studies professor Desi Brown hosted the teach-in, which he called “Teachable Moments by President Schmidly.”
He told a group of more than 30 protesters UNM President David Schmidly’s “teachable moments” were evicting protesters from Yale Park, refusing to meet with them, refusing to renew their permit and closing Yale Park to the public.
“Since the Occupy Albuquerque movement is not allowed to be on this campus and individual members of it have been banned from this campus, even during open hours, it was decided that it would be a really useful opportunity to educate students, faculty and the public about what was going on,” Brown said.
Protesters also held a candle-light vigil Thursday evening for Scott Olson, a Marin veteran, whose skull was fractured during police action at an Occupy Oakland demonstration.
