Occupy Richmond could occupy next door to Mayor Jones

David Woodson
Contributing Writer

Charles Couch
Contributing Writer

Occupy Richmond, the local off-shoot of the global Occupy movement, has been protesting for nearly a month now and is still looking for a permanent location to occupy in the city.

Things could be looking up for the occupants though – they’ve been welcomed right next door to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones.

Mayor Jones’ next-door neighbor, Raymond Boone, who is also the editor and publisher of the Richmond Free Press, offered his four-acre lawn as a possible location for the Occupy organization.

The announcement came via an editorial titled “Welcome, Occupy Richmond” on Thursday and prompted the protesters to send Mayor Dwight Jones a letter demanding explicit permission “to exercise our constitutional rights 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without incurring any violation.”

The statement continued, “if our proposal is not heeded and our grievances not redressed, we will pursue other available and legal avenues of action  perhaps even engaging in occupation on private property within the City of Richmond. A supporter of the movement, Mr. Raymond H. Boone, has graciously offered his yard for this purpose.” The group ended by giving Mayor Jones until 5 p.m. the following Monday to meet their demands.

On Friday, Boone told CBS6, “I think it gives the Mayor an opportunity to say where he really stands. Whether he stands with corporate, or whether he stands with the people who elected him.”

The group made their first attempt Wednesday night to reoccupy since the city and state police evicted Occupy Richmond from Kanawha Plaza on Halloween morning.

However, after a night of marches, chanting and some police interaction resulting in two arrests, protesters ended up in a large open structure at Canal Walk, near 14th Street, where they have set up a temporary occupation hub.

Protesters filled Gallery 5, a studio in Jackson Ward, on Wednesday evening for a screening of several short films and a documentary about the Richmond-based movement. After the screening, Occupy supporters filtered out of the packed studio onto Marshall Street. More than 250 protesters carrying signs with slogans and pouring apple cider vinegar on bandanas in preparation of tear gas, (though police never enforced such means), marched to Monroe Park where they planned to restart their occupation.

Three groups of protesters began marching in different routes around the city. One of the groups went to Monroe Park and found it surrounded by Richmond Police officers.

Though the protesters never entered the park, police made two arrests under the felony charge of covering their faces with bandanas in public.

While this group receded from Monroe, the other two had converged behind the Richmond Coliseum, combined ranks and continued marching through Downtown Richmond.

“Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!” the protesters chanted and then began to sing in intervals: “We have come too far. We can’t turn round. We’ll flood the streets with justice. We are freedom bound.”

After about an hour, the group marched back towards the coliseum and met the group that had gone to Monroe Park. Once behind the coliseum, Occupy Richmond began a general assembly to figure out how to proceed and to potentially find new location to occupy since Monroe Park was guarded.

One of the protesters marching that night was Chris Gillus.

Gillus said the park area behind the coliseum was chosen because it was legal for them to be there until 3 a.m., providing Occupy Richmond time to make their next move.

The various routes the three groups marched had been unknown to the majority of the participants, Gillus said. The routes had been planned by Occupy Richmond’s “bug out” committee – a group created in a previous general assembly in order to make contingency plans for dealing with potential conflict with the police.

“We didn’t know exactly what their plan was, but we trusted them to lead us to a safe place to make sure we could hold (a General Assembly to) make decisions for our further actions,” Gillus said.

In the middle of the general assembly’s debate, about 80 state and city police cars parked on 7th Street, adjacent to the group of protesters. The majority of police officers remained on the sidewalk across from the park area and talked among themselves, but a few officers, including Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood, talked with a few protesters.

Chief Norwood declined to comment on the situation.

The police never encroached upon the protesters except for an occasional reminder over megaphone that the park area closed to the public at 3 a.m.

The general assembly continued their debate in hushed tones, until they came to consensus on a location to at least temporarily occupy Canal Walk which is always open to the public, protesters said. Protesters marched again, arriving to a large open structure along the plaza after 2 a.m.

“We did a pretty good job at working our way around direct confrontation with the different police officers,” Gillus said.

Yet Occupy supporter and VCU student Eleanor Cauthin said that she would have preferred the group to stay behind the coliseum, despite police’s reminders.

“(There are) enough people that if we all chose to stay it would make it really difficult for the police forces that I see at least right now to deal with that kind of massive arrest,” Cauthin said before the occupiers left for Canal Walk.

While 300 protesters marched to Kanawha Plaza the first day of the first occupation, only 50 stayed that night. The pseudo community quickly grew to approximately 120 members before the police raid and disbandment of the encampment. The group has been having their daily general assemblies chiefly around the Monroe Park campus.

General attendance has been averaging close to 50 supporters per meeting. On Saturday morning, only seven protesters attended the general assembly, according to comments on Occupy Richmond’s Facebook page.

During the Halloween raid, city police enforced an eviction of Kanawha Plaza, nine people were arrested and charged with trespassing as well as being present in a city park after dark.

According to a press release, the American Civil Liberties Union has proffered to provide legal defense for Ian Graham, a photographer for RVA Magazine, who was incarcerated and issued a summons after taking pictures of the police encounter.

Kent Willis, the ACLU Virginia Executive Director, said there was “no justification for his arrest,” adding “not only was this a member of press operating under the protection of the First Amendment, but we still can’t fathom how anyone could be arrested for trespassing in a public street.”

Two ubiquitous traits of the protests, which are currently occurring in over 1,500 cities worldwide, is anger against the steadily increasing income disparity, as well as a plethora of local issues, specific to individual areas.

The Richmond segment’s specific slights against a system perceived as unjust include advocating the cancellation of service from major financial institutions such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo in favor of credit unions, as well as an upcoming Black Friday boycott outside of Richmond’s Federal Reserve building.

Photos by Chris Couch

Continue following The CT’s ongoing coverage of Occupy Richmond here.