An Occupy Atlanta protester charged with felony aggravated assault against a police officer will have a bond hearing Monday morning.
Brandon Wojcik-Tremblay was among 20 protesters arrested Saturday night as Atlanta police tried to clear Peachtree Street of marching demonstrators. Police say Wojcik-Tremblay knocked a police officer off his motorcycle, but protesters tell a different story.
Lauren Reynolds, a member of Occupy's jail support committee, said Sunday that marchers were crowded on Peachtree Street when a line of police on motorcycles began to rev their engines to disperse the crowd. The Occupy Atlanta website says the police officer then "accelerated into a demonstrator."
Reynolds said Wojcik-Tremblay is the first Occupy Atlanta protester to be charged with a felony.
The 19 protesters arrested on misdemeanor charges of obstructing traffic were granted bond during a hearing in municipal court Sunday. Most were able to leave jail on signature bonds, but eight were given bonds ranging from $300 to $500. The highest bond was given to a man who had been arrested twice for protesting.
Protesters at the Sunday bond hearing said they would return to Woodruff Park in downtown Atlanta Sunday evening, but more arrests are not expected until at least 11 p.m. when the park closes.
Retired Atlanta criminal defense attorney Brooks Franklin was one of six attorneys volunteering his time to help protesters Sunday. Franklin, who is now an organic farmer in North Carolina, decided to return Sunday morning to the city where he practiced law for more than 35 years.
"I got up at 2 a.m. this morning to support these young people," said Brooks. "Things are worse off then they've ever been. Things are just not in sync."
Like many of the protesters, he said he's disgusted by "money-driven" politics and the inequities between rich and the poor.
"People with money are ruling the world," he said.
Just a few feet away from Brooks, Occupy Atlanta supporters carried homemade signs that said, "I'm here because I believe we can do better! We don't need to leave the 99 percent behind."
The group of supporters shared wheat bread with cream cheese and stood out in the cold waiting for the 19 protesters charged with misdemeanors to be released. The majority of the protestors arrested are either employed or in college. They included an instructor at Georgia State University and a man who works in video production. They also included a young man who said he was simply leaving a restaurant after a late-night snack when he got caught up in the commotion and was then arrested.
Saturday night's march was a surprise move by the protesters. Nearly 150 went to Woodruff Park Saturday night, with many saying they intended to be arrested by refusing to leave the park when it closed at 11 p.m. But shortly after 11, the group began emptying out of the park and marching on Peachtree, which borders the west side of the small park.
Just before midnight, waves of Atlanta police began moving south down Peachtree, forcing the marchers back. The first rank of police was simply in uniform and carried plastic handcuffs. They were backed by officers in riot gear — face plates, body armor and long nightsticks — and mounted police.
A knot of protesters chanted “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as the police advanced.
The Occupy Atlanta protest began Oct. 7 with a few people and grew into a tent-city occupation of Woodruff Park that continued for nearly three weeks. The group lists joblessness, student debt, foreclosures, two wars, corporate greed and a lack of political representation for the middle class among its concerns.
The mayor’s office said Thursday that the first occupation of the park cost city taxpayers more than $451,000, most of it in police overtime.
Reporter Christopher Quinn contributed to this article.
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