Arrests of protestors occupying vacant building lead to protest rally

Protesters occupying the former Yates Motor Company building at 419 W. Franklin St. were arrested by law enforcement officers wielding guns Sunday evening — an encounter that led to a protest rally later in the night.

According to a Chapel Hill Police Department press release, police sent a tactical team in to break up the protest after learning known anarchists were present. The group had stationed people on the roof and had obstructed the building’s windows, the release states.

The risks prompted police to secure and enter the building, according to the release. Police arrested eight people for misdemeanor breaking and entering and took them by bus to appear before a magistrate in Hillsborough.

Occupiers said despite rumors that police might ask them to leave, they didn’t expect what they called a “raid.” During the confrontation, police pointed rifles at protesters and bound some with handcuffs.

“Not a single person in there had any weapons or anything,” said Stephen Greenslade, who was at the scene and said he had a gun shoved in his face.

Some of the protesters were released and crossed to the other side of Franklin Street to organize and chant at police as those arrested were loaded onto a Chapel Hill Transit bus.

The occupiers, a spin-off of Occupy Wall Street, moved into the dealership Saturday. The day before the arrest, protesters said they wanted the vacant building to become a permanent location.

Some said they knew they were breaking the law by trespassing, but expected police to warn them prior to a confrontation.

Carrboro Alderman Sammy Slade, who wasn’t occupying but was at the scene, said there should have been a warning.

“I talked to people who were here who were arrested and then released who said that had they been warned that they were going to have guns put to their backs, they would have walked away.”

Kieran Preissler, a Chapel Hill resident and high school senior, said he wasn’t occupying but was talking to protesters when police came.

He said after police entered, he was handcuffed and had guns pointed at him before he was released.

“Assault rifles are scary to begin with, but two feet in front of my face, like woah,” Preissler said.

The bus that drove those arrested away had Wells Fargo ads on the side, which some protesters said they found ironic.

“Who do they protect? Wells Fargo! Who do they serve? Wells Fargo!” protesters chanted.

Among those detained at the scene were two journalists, Katelyn Ferral of the Chapel Hill News and Josh Davis, a freelancer and a graduate student at UNC.

“It reeks of censorship because I’m here with my camera and my notepad and my phone and I can’t do my reporting in a critical time when police activity is perhaps questionable,” Davis said.

But John Wooten, a Chapel Hill resident who was watching, said law enforcement officers were vilified by the protesters.

“You can’t break into a privately owned building,” Wooten said.

And Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said in a statement that the town acted to protect all residents’ rights — not just those of protesters.

“The Town has an obligation to the property owners, and the Town will enforce those rights, just as it will work to continue facilitating the exercise of free speech,” Kleinschmidt said.

Peter Pendergrass, an Occupy Chapel Hill protester, said the occupiers at the Peace and Justice Plaza are distinct from those in the vacant building.

“It was a separate action, a separate occupation, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a part of the occupy movement,” he said. “We had a discussion about it today and said that we stand in solidarity with this occupation.”

The faction that occupied the building planned a benefit at the Chapel Hill Underground at 10 p.m. Sunday to raise bail money.

But Ryan Garrell, who said he was one of the eight arrested, said they were released without bail. Arrest reports won’t be released until early Monday.

While the benefit was no longer needed, a protest did occur — roughly 75 occupiers marched in a loop down Franklin and Rosemary Streets in part of a rally that ended at the Underground and was ongoing at 11:25 p.m.

Marchers were both preceded and followed by police cars blocking off the streets. Protesters chanted insults at the law enforcement officers.

Staff writers Elise Young and Josh Clinard contributed reporting.

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