Chapel Hill police criticized over handling of protesters’ arrests
Police in the politically liberal college town of Chapel Hill faced criticism Monday for sending officers in special tactics gear with guns drawn to raid a building being occupied by demonstrators, during which two journalists and other non-protesters were handcuffed, forced to lie on the ground and photographed.
The raid happened Sunday at a vacant car dealership taken over by protesters who hung banners in windows daubed with slogans, including “Occupy Everything.” An encampment inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement has pitched tents for weeks in Chapel Hill, but any connections between that group and those who broke into the building are unclear, partly as a consequence of the amorphous nature of the Occupy protests.
Chapel Hill is one of several North Carolina cities with protests inspired by Occupy Wall Street, and until Sunday the demonstrators and city had mostly coexisted peacefully. Unlike Raleigh and Charlotte, where police have racked up thousands of dollars in costs by posting officers at the encampments around the clock, Chapel Hill has not kept a constant police presence.
That made Sunday’s events all the more surprising for Josh Davis, a freelance journalist and graduate student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, who arrived at the vacant building to photograph the protest. Davis said he was wearing press credentials around his neck, but was still handcuffed and lined up against a wall with others before being released. Police also took his picture and contact information, he said.
“This is the first time in 10 years of reporting that I’ve ever been handcuffed or ever had a gun pointed at me,” he said.
