Eight Occupy Santa Barbara protesters arrested

October 6, 2011

Santa Barbara Police officers arrested eight people on misdemeanor charges after they refused officers’ orders to leave De la Guerra Plaza on Tuesday evening. [Noozhawk]

The Occupy Wall Street movement began on September 17. People are protesting corporate greed and inequality.

A video of the arrests, available on Noozhawk, shows Santa Barbara Police officers asking protesters to leave the plaza because of a 10 p.m. park curfew or risk receiving a citation or arrest.

Eight protesters refused to leave the plaza and were arrested and booked into Santa Barbara County Jail.

The video shows officers holding dozens of plastic zip ties, now familiar to anyone who has seen pictures or footage of the mass arrests of the Occupy Wall Street movement when protesters tried to march across the Brooklyn Bridge, Noozhawk said.

Several protesters had their hands bound and were taken to the police van, while others merely stepped off the grass, crossed the street and stood on the public sidewalk. Two people chained themselves to objects, and the Santa Barbara City Fire Department had to use the Jaws of Life to disable one of the chains, Noozhawk said.