GET THE HELL OUT OF OUR PARK AND DESTROYING IT WITH YOUR FILTH!

Occupy Rochester, NYCLU don’t like police checks in Washington Square Park

by Gary McLendon

Occupy Rochester’s encampment in Washington Square Park was visited by police about 2 a.m. Thursday.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is now demanding that the city of Rochester “stop sending police officers into the park to harass peaceful protesters.”
According to the NYCLU, witnesses in the park told them that police officers entered the park after 2 a.m. and began rousting sleeping protesters and demanded to see their identification.
They said officers also demanded to search the protestors’ tents and other personal property, and said they would return nightly from 2 to 4 a.m.

“Last night’s harassment was pure harassment and an outrageous affront to free speech,” said KaeLyn Rich, director of the NYCLU’s Genesee Valley Chapter.
“There is no good reason for police to be harassing peaceful protesters in the dead of night.

“It flies in the face of both the First Amendment and the agreement between the city and Occupy Rochester that allows the demonstrators to camp in the park.”
In response, Rochester Mayor Thomas Richards said police routinely monitor the park overnight, and officers asked for the identification because a group of people were gathered and milling about at 2 a.m., which piqued police interest.
“Usually, when they (police) go by at 2 o’clock in the morning, people are either not there, or they’re in their tents,” Richards said, adding that having police get out of their cars and investigate “is what we expect police to do at 2 o’clock in the morning in public parks.”
Richards said police did not go into the tents, no one was arrested for not showing identification, and police will periodically repeat the checks.
“It’s a public park and we need to provide protection in public parks. The way that the police behaved was perfectly legitimate and reasonable.

“It wasn’t intended to be harassment of any kind and it wasn’t.”
GMCLENDN

Twitter: @NightCopsReport

Letter to the Editor

Let the crows stay, evict the Occupiers

In the Jan. 30 article on the crows in Washington Square Park, in which an Occupy Rochester member is quoted.
By no surprise, I think the city of Rochester has their priorities mixed up. Instead of spending money to chase crows away from a park — isn’t that where you would expect to find birds — how about saving $21,100 by leaving the crows alone and tell the camping Occupiers, who don’t belong there, to go home.
BRUCE from PITTSFORD