When students and community members established the 25-day occupation of Yale Park at the University of New Mexico during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, it was all hands on deck for Daily Lobo journalists.
The Occupy Wall Street movement was a protest against economic inequality and corporate corruption, during which protesters occupied a park in the New York Financial District, according to Britannica. This inspired similar occupations across the country.
The protest in Albuquerque, which took place at UNM, was called (un)Occupy to honor Indigenous people.
Daily Lobo alum Juan Labreche, a freelance photographer and sophomore at the time, said documenting the movement gave reason to his work. He recalled staying at the newsroom until nearly 4 a.m. to help put together the next day’s print issue, he said.
“I just remember how electric the newsroom was,” Labreche said. “The entire newsroom was working on this. From the managing editor all the way down to the freelancers, we were all dedicated to getting this news out.”
During coverage of the (un)Occupy protests, Labreche said classes and homework became secondary to the newspaper.
“Working at the Lobo was the most important thing for us,” Labreche said.
On October 25, 2011, police in riot gear arrested at least 40 protesters after their permit to occupy Yale Park — located near Central Avenue and Yale Avenue — expired, according to a Daily Lobo article.
Labreche photographed the events unfolding that night after visiting the encampment almost every day since the beginning, he said.
“It was hectic. It was a down-with-a-ship feeling around the encampment," Labreche said. “Everybody knew they were going down, everybody knew that they were next, there was singing and everybody was locked in arms.”
Adrenaline was high when police arrived in riot gear and with batons, Labreche said. He recalled being misted by pepper spray when police maced protesters.
“I think we all felt like we were in the right place,” Labreche said. “We knew being arrested was a possibility, but we believed in what we were doing, so we stayed.”
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Labreche said the protesters were glad the Daily Lobo was there to document the encampment.
“I think the protesters gave strength to the journalists and vice versa,” Labreche said.
Labreche said he thinks the Daily Lobo’s coverage humanized the protesters.
“If you humanize protestors, your constituents, you give your readers reason to identify with somebody there,” Labreche said. “Most of the people protesting these things aren't violent.”
The hardest part about covering (un)Occupy was being a neutral observer, Labreche said.
“When you see something going wrong, you kind of want to step in and speak up,” Labreche said. “You feel kind of limited through your publication's reach, but at the same time, all of us at the Daily Lobo, we worked our hearts out to make sure that what we saw got published.”
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa is the social media editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
