Three dozen arrested outside Capitol at ‘Occupy Des Moines’ protest

[struggle4progress]

DES MOINES, Iowa — About three dozen protesters who are part of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement were arrested for trespassing and taken to the Polk County Jail late Sunday night after they refused to leave a park west of the Iowa Capitol when it closed at 11 p.m.

Several people were dragged on the ground or carried away in handcuffs by state troopers, after they linked arms and huddled together on the ground in an effort to avoid arrest.

“It was a complete police over-reaction. The police could have chosen to let the protest remain, as they have in Iowa City and many other places,” saidDrake University Law Professor Sally Frank, who estimated that there were between 30 and 36 arrests. “There was some brutality. One man was pepper-sprayed and injured.” ...

Former state Rep. Ed Fallon, D-Des Moines, a 2006 candidate for governor and 2008 Congressional candidate who now has a radio show called “The Fallon Forum,” was one of the earlier ones to be arrested. Others included a 14-year-old girl who was taken to Meyer Hall, the juvenile detention facility here ...

http://missouri-news.org/midwest-news/iowa/three-dozen-arrested-outside-capitol-at-occupy-des-moines-protest/9693