Arrests and Pepper Spray at Occupy Des Moines—Governor Faults Protestors

[deminks]

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/10/occupy-des-moines-iowa-arrests?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Motherjones%2Fmojoblog+%28MotherJones.com+%7C+MoJoBlog%29

#OccupyWallStreet came to Iowa last week, with organized efforts in at least seven cities to date. It all began without incident in a park in Iowa City, where police checked in only to "protect us from possible drunk students walking by," according to one participant. But Sunday night, outside the state Capitol building in Des Moines, officers arrested at least 30 adults and two minors after protesters refused to vacate a swath of state property they'd temporarily claimed as "People's Park." Claims of police misconduct were promptly flying about on Twitter.

(snip)

When the officers returned half an hour later, about 100 people locked arms, says David Goodner, a longtime social justice activist. Goodner was the first person arrested when police began to forcibly subdue protesters, at least one of whom was pepper-sprayed. Others, according to people at the scene, received scrapes and bruises as police dragged them away.

"I've never seen that many people arrested for an act of conscience in all my time working for social change in Des Moines," says Ed Fallon, a local radio-show host and former Democratic state legislator who was among those arrested. (Disclosure: I volunteered on Fallon's gubernatorial campaign in 2006.) "What's unique about this is the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to the Heartland."

(snip)

Terry Branstad, the state's Republican governor, defended the officers' actions. At a statehouse news conference Monday morning, he said the police "acted in an appropriate and restrained manner." (Iowa State Patrol Sgt. Scott Bright told me that officers "didn't have any conversation with the governor" prior to the arrests.) Branstad went on to criticize the protesters. "I think we've got to be careful about casting blame and attacking people who we want to invest and create jobs," he told reporters. "I'm very concerned about not sending the wrong signals to the decision-makers in business."

emphasis mine

Who is your constituency, Gov?

[sfpcjock]

1. lmao

:rofl: "I think we've got to be careful about casting blame and attacking people who we want to invest and create jobs," he told reporters. "I'm very concerned about not sending the wrong signals to the decision-makers in business."

[flobee1]

2. translation

Don't piss off the people with the money or they won't give me any