A group of Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested on Thursday as the group protested outside of the Iowa campaign headquarters of presidential contender Ron Paul.
The group was in town protesting GOP candidates and President Barack Obama when five members were cited for trespassing after repeated requests were made for them to leave the public area surrounding Ron Paul’s campaign office in the Ankeny suburb of Des Moines.
Arrests outside of Republican campaign offices seems to be a new trend this week, just one day earlier 7 protesters were arrested outside of Republican Mitt Romney’s Des Moines headquarters. After the first wave of arrests OWS spokeswoman Danielle Ryun said more arrests were likely, adding:
“They’re all going to get equal play on this,” Ryun said. “We are very disillusioned with every candidate.”
OWS has promised to disrupt political gathers in an effort to follow candidates around the country while displacing their activities.
Later on Thursday protesters were expected to reach the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters where eight protesters were arrested on December 19 after they tried to make their way into the parties Des Moines campaign center. Protesters will then move on to other Republican candidates on Friday.
The OWS arrests on Thursday followed a similar pattern for OWN protesters, police simply asked the protesters to move to a public sidewalk for which five refused and were arrested.
According to police they were called by a nearby store owner who was worried that the protesters would scare away potential customers.
Ryun told Newser:
“It would be great if we could show up, issue our concerns and have the candidates acknowledge us and change their platform.”
Further the protesters say locked campaign doors “signal that they have become disengaged.”
Personally I view the locked doors to signal that political parties during an upcoming election year don’t want 15 people flooding their office with picket signs and chants that would ultimately disrupt their election process.
The group was protesting Ron Paul over his plans to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Do you think politicians should have allowed protesters into their office or is the safety of their staff more important?
