State police arrested more than 40 Occupy Albuquerque protesters late at the University of New Mexico. The university declined not renew the permit that’s allowed protesters to gather on campus. The school says it was for safety reasons.
According to an article by Chelsea Erven and Luke Holmenof the New Mexico Daily Lobo:
University administrators told protesters they must leave Yale Park by 10 p.m. today because they violated their permit conditions by staying in the park overnight, UNM said in a statement Monday. The statement said the homeless population attracted by the protest is also a problem. The group has been giving free food to the area’s homeless.
UNM officials said they requested help from the City to address the problem with transients attracted to campus, but said it is difficult to distinguish transients from protesters.
“The nature of the (Un)occupy Albuquerque protest is that it attracts many different types of individuals, and there is no way to assess whether people are or are not part of the (Un)occupy protest,” the statement said.
Um, I’m pretty sure the transients are protesters. That’s sort of the point. The homeless people of Albuquerque are part of the 99 percent, too.
