Arrests Over the Weekend, Discussion with City Officials Today [Occupy Austin Update]

Despite what had been almost amicable dealings up til now between APD and the folks of Occupy Austin, a number of arrests were made in the wee hours of Sunday morning after protesters objected to the new ban on food tables and remained in the plaza to block the scheduled power washing. The ban on food tables had gone into effect Friday night, saying that food distribution tables were to be removed from the plaza from the hours of 10pm to 6am.

20 people were arrested during Sunday's protest of the food table ban, and several more were arrested as they refused to move for the plaza to be cleaned. Chief Acevedo said that for those protesters whose goal was civil disobedience, "People wanted to make a statement by being arrested, and we facilitated that."

City officials met with representatives of the Occupy Austin movement today and concerns on both sides were discussed. Officials had earlier expressed frustration at the lack of a point person on the side of the protesters, and a spokesperson for the movement said that communication between the two parties was a definite issue. The Austin protests, a segment of the larger Occupy Wall Street movement, will continue.