ABQ women arrested at protest in SF
They were taken into custody after refusing to leave the Roundhouse
SANTA FE - Three Albuquerque women — ages 75, 64 and 56 — spent the night in jail after being arrested at the state Capitol Thursday night at a protest over federal immigration enforcement policies that have separated children from their families.
Twelve other protesters were cited but not arrested, according to Dan Cron, attorney for the group which he said included two nuns.
Cron said Friday he didn’t know why some protesters were arrested and others only were cited. The protests lasted well into the evening.
“All I know is that it is agreed upon by everyone that it was a non-violent and peaceful protest and in which none of the protesters offered any kind active resistance,” Cron said Friday.
He said the protesters went to the Governor’s Office to talk to Martinez — who was away on a trip to Taiwan — or anyone else about the family separation issue, but no one at the office would agree to having “even a minimal dialogue.”
The governor’s office did not respond to Journal requests for comment Friday. Martinez has supported both separation of families as part of a President Donald Trump’s notolerance stand on illegal immigration and the president’s recent order rescinding family separation.
A statement of probable cause for
the Roundhouse arrests written by State Police Officer Andrew Pulido said the three women were arrested after they refused to stand up when officers were trying to clear out the protesters after closing hours.
The Associated Press reported that one woman in handcuffs chanted “reunite the families” and “shame on Susana.”
Jailed overnight were Albuquerque residents Susan Joy Schurman, 56; Eleanor Chavez, 64, and Sister Marlene Gail Perrotte, 75. Jail records show they were booked about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. They are charged with trespass, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and “interference with public officials or general public.”
Cron said a magistrate judge cleared them for release from incarceration at an arraignment Friday. About 25 people showed up to support the three facing charges, said Cron. A pre-trial hearing was scheduled for Aug. 6.
The arrested women weren’t released from jail until after 6 p.m. Friday, online jail records show.
Officer Pulido’s statement says he was called to the Roundhouse about 4 p.m. Thursday regarding an “enlarging” group of protesters who were disturbing the peace. A dispatcher told him the protesters were not being violent in any way “but they were laying on the floor singing and chanting and refusing to leave.”
The protesters were told after 5 p.m. they had to leave and could protest outside if the wanted, but they “refused to listen to our lawful commands,” Pulido wrote. The three women who refused to stand up were handcuffed and taken to a police car.