ATLANTA,None — Occupy Atlanta organizers said Sunday that they plan to again try to camp at a city park, setting up yet another showdown with police a night after 20 people were arrested during a rally that spilled into the streets.
The group will hold its general assembly meeting Sunday evening, just hours after more than a dozen protestors faced a judge, then march back to Woodruff Park downtown, said organizer Tim Franzen. Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said police would continue to enforce the law.
Students, teachers, a newspaper reporter for a college paper and a retiree were among the 19 Occupy Atlanta participants that faced a judge Sunday.
Police arrested 20 people after an Occupy Atlanta protest rally in aWoodruff Park spilled onto the streets and officers converged on them on motorcycles, on horseback and in riot gear Saturday night.
A crowd of several hundred protesters had gathered at Woodruff Park, the scene of about 50 arrests of demonstrators last month, and set up tents. Organizers had said they planned to stay overnight despite warnings from the mayor and police that anyone there past the 11 p.m. closing would be arrested.
But as 11 p.m. approached, protesters began decamping peacefully. Dozens of officers were on hand, herding protesters away from the park's entrances and installing barricades around it. A police helicopter flew overhead.
GALLERY: Occupy Atlanta arrests
While most protesters left the park, a few people stayed behind. And as demonstrators poured onto Peachtree Street and downtown, a police officer on a motorcycle drove into the crowd, sparking a confrontation between officers and protesters that turned tense at times.
"They tackled me to the ground and somebody grabbed me by the back of the head and just slammed my head into the ground a couple times," Chris Seidl said.
"I got no warning," Alisen Redmond said. "(Police) just grabbed me by the arm."
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Police officers in riot gear and on horseback filled the street, warning protesters to stay on the sidewalk. The protesters shouted at the officers, chanting slogans such as, "Shame! Shame!" and "What about your pensions?" A small group yelled more insulting things like, "Put the pigs back in their sty, we the people occupy." Police made a number of arrests, mostly people who disobeyed orders to stay on the sidewalk.
Police issued a statement early Sunday saying 19 people who either refused to leave the park after the 11 p.m. closing time or blocked nearby roads were arrested. The statement also said another person accused of assaulting a motorcycle officer on patrol was arrested.
Channel 2's Michael Buczyner was at Municipal Court Sunday morning and reported that most of the 19 received a bond of $300-$500.
The 20th person arrested was 24-year-old Brandon Wojcik-Tremblay. Tremblay is at the Fulton County Jail awaiting a court hearing on Monday.
Police said Tremblay knocked an Atlanta police officer off his motorcycle during the demonstrations. Occupy Atlanta protestors told Channel 2's Sophia Choi that that's not what happend.
"The police motorcycles were coming through and the front one ran directly into like seven people," protestor Thomas March said.
"I think (Tremblay) is feeling kind of scared and overwhlemed," Juliana Grant told Choi. "He's also in a fair amount of pain from his injuries."
Protestors told Choi Tremblay suffered several injuries when police pounced on him.
Tremblay faces aggravated assault and obstruction charges.
Protesters began camping out in Woodruff Park on Oct. 7. Mayor Kasim Reed initially issued an executive order allowing them to stay overnight, but later revoked it after he said there were increasing security concerns.
"Mayor Reed was clear earlier this week in his public statements that the City of Atlanta would arrested any persons who violated the law," Police Chief George Turner said. The statement added warnings were issued over a loudspeaker repeatedly in English and Spanish before the latest arrests.
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Police on Oct. 26 arrested more than 50 people they say were violating a city ordinance by staying in the park after closing.
The protesters returned Saturday night. The crowd swelled during the brisk evening, as the Rev. Jesse Jackson paid an early-evening visit to show his support. He told those gathered that the movement was an extension of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Poor People's Campaign.
Hours later, though, Occupy Atlanta organizer Latron Price said he was disappointed that the situation grew confrontational.
"As responsible occupiers, we have to step up and try to display an example that the overall agenda is not about confrontation with police," he told the Associated Press. "We need to deal with the banks, we need to deal with home foreclosures, and we need to deal with wealth disparity."
Asked about the exchanges with police, the 37-year-old Atlanta man said, "That has me equally upset because we're losing what we came here to do, which is to protest peacefully."
He said protesters need to regroup and focus on a nonviolent message.
La'die Mansfield, 29, a spokeswoman for the Occupy Atlanta, said the police used "unnecessary force" and stressed that the group would continue to organize and to protest what they see as a system that promotes an unequal distribution of wealth.
"Today is a sad day for us. It's almost like we're seeing a little bit of what happened in Oakland here, not to the extent," she said. "Today was just a reminder of the system that we have, the corrupt system."