Occupy Atlanta protests at five Chase banks led to 14 arrests Monday in the Atlanta area, according to police.
In the city of Atlanta, six protesters were arrested at the Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard branch in west Atlanta as locks were being placed on the doors, Sgt. Curtis Davenport with Atlanta police told the AJC.
Eight other protesters were arrested at a branch off Moreland Avenue in DeKalb County, Mekka Parish, DeKalb police spokeswoman, said Monday afternoon.
Sofia Lipko, one of the Occupy Atlanta organizers, told the AJC the latest arrests won't deter the group's efforts to fight what she said was corporate greed.
"I think every bank had a different reaction," Lipko, who was not among those arrested Monday, said in a phone interview. "In Mechanicsville, they (police) were giving no warning. There were six (protesters) handcuffed and arrested.”
The arrests followed repeated requests by bank officials and police officers for the demonstrators to leave, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos told the AJC.
Those arrested by Atlanta police were Deron Morris, 23; Morina Bruce, 19; Lila Bakhtiari, 24; Luke Odonovan, 19; Joseph Diaz, 24, and Amy Smith, 21, Davenport said. All six were charged with criminal trespass. Morris also faces a fraud warrant out of Baldwin County, police said.
In DeKalb County, eight protesters were charged with criminal trespass at the branch in the 2400 block of Village Creek Landing, Parish said.
Protesters at the bank used their personal vehicles and themselves to physically block entrances to the bank and also struck the front glass of the building, leading those inside to call police, Parish said.
DeKalb police said they arrested Randall Setzer, 20; Bryan Scherer, 24; Carter Thomas, 24; Hassan Lalani, 24; Kevin Slote, 29; Calvin Mijo, 21; Vincent Castillenti, 26, and Christopher French, 20.
The Chase bank on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive was vandalized by paint thrown on the building, Davenport said. Protesters at two other Atlanta banks, on Piedmont and Caroline roads, left the area as police officers arrived, he said.
Lipko said she was part of a group of about 40 demonstrators who went to the banks to protest Monday. She said she was one of three people briefly detained by police, but was released.
“I never plan to get arrested, but the police use their own discretion," Lipko said. “They didn’t have to arrest (the other protesters), because they let us go.”
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