Occupy Tucson held a parking lot party last night at the Pima County jail Silverlake annex. The sheriff’s department that runs the jail called the Tucson Police Department to remove them. Turns out that Occupy Tucson had every right to be there since they were there to recover their arrested members as they were released from detention. There were tacos, and soda pop and cigarettes for all who wanted them after their long day. The video arraignment took place at 8:00pm and the last Occupier was released at 2:30am, he goes by Bucket and is a medic who has been with the group since day one.

I am told that that is an unusually long amount of time after arraignment for release to take place. Some have speculated within my hearing that the Sheriffs department was retaliating in a petty and vindictive fashion by delaying release of Occupy members because other Occupy members had stood their ground and refused to leave the public parking lot that is there to accommodate citizens who are there to pick up persons being released from jail. Normal procedure is 5 detainees being released every 45 minutes after the arraignment. Three Occupiers were not released, one is a girl from Canada who I have been told is going to be turned over to ICE (just now got a phone call saying that Noemie has been released by ICE and that Billy is on the way to pick her up, get her fed some decent chow, and keep her from having to walk; she is the blonde that you see cuffed with zip ties at the beginning of the video), another was charged with resisting arrest and I have been told that he was out of control prior to the eviction and had pushed Mary DeCamp to the ground (if that turns out to be true jail is a good place for him), and one had a previous warrant and was held over to deal with that issue. 21 Occupy Tucson members were recovered, greeted, fed, and then taken somewhere safe and warm by 3:30am, most everybody is tired today, but Saturday’s General Assembly should be a spirited affair. We are not going away.

Here is a video shot by Steev Hise for Occupy Tucson :
****Note : Michael Migliore in the red hoody whom you hear talking through much of the video and then later see being arrested is one of two remaining of the five original members who started up Occupy Tucson and gave impetus to the early organizing; he’s a really stand up guy with a never wavering moral compass, I’m proud to know him and proud that he is a citizen of my country.

Comments by Michael Migliore :

Thanks to everyone that greeted us in support as we were released from jail. Law Enforcement has become the pawn of the fraudulent and corrupt corporate government sponsored by the 1%. The jail personnel did their best to make our time there as miserable as possible, one guard commented on the Movement as “that Occupy Bullshit” and I heard one female guard tell one of our female patriots “I don’t give a shit, fucking bite me”. They locked 15 of us in a small cell for 12 hours without enough space for all of us to even lay down on the concrete to rest, but we alternated so some of us could take turns laying down, standing or sitting on the concrete bench. I guess they don’t realize that their best efforts were hardly an inconvenience compared to the struggle and discomfort that most of us have faced in our lives. As time goes on, their actions are becoming more desperate, dehumanizing and oppressive. They make themselves look worse and worse as they quest to further victimize the common people for standing up against them. They can count on seeing me again as long as this diaphragm continues to pull air into this compassionate heart that will never bend to their will of perpetuating human suffering.

Stay Strong and Take Care of One Another.