Tuesday night's arrests of 37 people affiliated with (Un)Occupy Albuquerque are raising eyebrows at the local American Civil Liberties Union branch.
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The nonprofit, which advocates First Amendment rights, is deciding whether to file an injunction with UNM over whether the actions violated free speech and assembly rights. The arrests came Wednesday night after protesters voted to stay on campus grounds in Yale Park despite a 10pm expiration of their permit.
When the deadline came, 60 police cars showed up to the roughly 200 to 300 protesters still in Yale Park.
Micah McCoy, an ACLU spokesman, says if an injunction is filed, it will likely come tomorrow or Monday. McCoy says his organization has questions over "whether the restrictions placed under the permit were reasonable within the law."
The ACLU filed similar grievances after Albuquerque police sprayed mace and teargas at a 2003 antiwar demonstration in the city's Nob Hill area. The ACLU's argument was ultimately rejected in court in 2009, McCoy says.
In Santa Fe, occupy demonstrations are still in full swing. Check out this video from SFR's Katie Cook:
