Police use stun gun on Washington protester
More than 400 arrested in Oakland
WASHINGTON A protester in his 20s was stunned with an electric stun gun Sunday and arrested for disorderly conduct at one of two Occupy protest sites in the U.S. capital, activists said.
The incident, a sign of increased tension between police and the anti-corporate protesters who have been occupying the square for four months, comes as authorities notify the activists that they face a Monday deadline to stop camping in the park or risk arrest.
The arrest comes as riot police arrested more than 400 people in Oakland, Calif., overnight Saturday to Sunday, as a wave of anti-wall Street protesters tried to take over downtown buildings including city hall.
The arrested man in Washington, whom protesters identified as “Lash,” was booked and will face charges in court on Monday, said protester Kelly Canavan.
Three officers arrested the activist because he was taking down flyers that the officers were posting on the tents, said another protester, Annie Storr.
“He said ‘Please don’t tase me,’ and they tased him,” said Canavan.
Authorities late last week began distributing flyers advising protesters that on Monday they would begin enforcing a ban on camping at Mcpherson Square and Freedom Plaza, the two downtown Washington parks where protesters have congregated.
“If camping violations are observed, individual violators may be subject to arrest and their property subject to seizure as evidence,” the flyers warned.
The Occupy DC protests are the most prominent of the remaining anti-corporate encampments that proliferated across the nation last fall.
Protests against inequality and corporate influence on U.S. politics began last September in New York and quickly spread around the country. Most of the demonstrations were shut down by the end of the year, but the ones in Washington have continued.