Twenty-nine members of Occupy Tampa were arrested early Friday morning in Riverfront Park off of North Boulevard, the largest number of protesters arrested at a single time since the movement began in Tampa two months ago.
According to a report by the Tampa Police Department, officers learned around 10 p.m. that the protesters were at the park. They have not said how they were informed, but on Occupy Tampa's Facebook page, there was a comment made around that time by a member announcing the new site, with one person commenting, "Why was the location posted?"
But the fact is that activists were prepared to be arrested. The possibility was discussed extensively at the beginning of Thursday night's General Assembly meeting in the amphitheatre in Kiley Gardens, the home of Occupy Tampa's nightly meetings. Phone numbers for bail bondsmen were announced, slips of paper headlined "Some things to do before risking arrest" were distributed, and one member, who said she did not want to be arrested, said she would be willing to hold personal possessions of any member who was going to be arrested, and would be outside the Orient Road Jail Friday morning with those possessions in hand when they were released.
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2011.