SOURCE: STAR TRIBUNE
by: Randy Furst
Recent news reports have described collaboration among different cities in dealing with their Occupy Wall Street protests. Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek said today that while he was in Chicago and Washington, D.C. on other business last month, he took photographs at the Occupy sites where protesters had been camping out. In Chicago, he said he took photos of law enforcement officers making arrests.
“I took photos at both sites, brought them back and shared them with my command staff,” he said. “We took photos of tents, numbers of people, some of the tactics used,” he said. “In Chicago, I was there when they made arrests.”
The Occupy Chicago protest at Grant Park happened to be across the street from the hotel where he was staying on Oct. 22, he said. “It wasn’t what I had planned on doing,” he said, referring to the photographing of arrests of demonstrators.
Stanek declined to talk about the substance of the conversations he had with officials in the two cities. Asked what impressions he had of the Chicago and Washington, D.C. occupations, he said, “My impression is that they are just what we have here.” He was in Washington on Oct. 12, he said.
Stanek has deployed deputies to the Government Center plaza, ever since Occupy Minnesota began its protest there on Oct. 7. His supervisory staff have had daily meetings with the protest group's representatives, and although there have been several incidents, there have been no mass arrests, or attempts to force the protesters from the plaza. The county board has passed a resolution saying that starting this past Monday, the protesters could stay on the plaza, including overnight, but could not go to sleep there. The county has not attempted to enforce the sleeping rule although some protesters say they have gone to sleep. If the county did enforce the sleeping rule, according to the sheriff's office, county security staff would hand a protester a notice of trespass, ordering the protester off the property. If the protester refused to go, security staff could ask deputies to arrest the person.
Asked if he had participated in conference calls with other cities about the occupations, Stanek said he declined to comment, adding, “I am not going to discuss what discussions I have had with other agencies across the country. Of course, law enforcement officials talk with other law enforcement officials.”
A march to the 10th Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis is scheduled for 4 p.m. today. According to news reports, Duluth police have notified Occupy protesters they must stop camping out in front of city hall by this weekend or they will be removed. The police department issued a news release today, saying it will hold a brief news conference at 4:30 p.m. "regarding the eviction of Occupy Duluth."
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