‘Occupy Iowa’ protesters arrested in Des Moines

Members of the Iowa State Patrol carry Occupy Iowa protesters off the the Iowa State Capitol West Lawn Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011 after demonstrators refused to leave what is known as “Peoples Park” at it’s closing time. It took police officers less than 45 minutes to remove the crowd from the lawn. 

Paige Godden

“We’re fighting for your pensions. You belong with us.”

Across the street from the West Lawn of the Des Moines Capitol, Occupy Iowa protesters were chanting to the State Patrol and Des Moines Police Department as a reported 32 protesters were being arrested and some being dragged from the Capitol’s property.

“I think they’ve used unnecessary roughness,” said Sally Frank, a lawyer who was helping to advise the group.

Frank said the police were not giving warnings when they arrived at the Capitol at 11:05 p.m.

Lt. Mark Logsdon spoke to the protestors at about 10:30 p.m., saying they would be arrested if they weren’t off the property by 11 p.m. because they did not have the proper permit to protest.

“They could’ve gotten a permit from the Department of Administration,” Logsdon said.

Dutch Ruisch and Marcus Tipton said earlier in the night they were hoping to have power in numbers.

They said the police didn’t have the means to arrest all of the protesters that were in attendance.

The two said they were in compliance with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which transcends party lines. Occupy Wall Street groups have been popping up around the nation, supporting the 99 percent and voicing concerns against big corporations.

Specifically, the group has called to overturn the ruling of the Citizens United case.

As one woman was being escorted to a police car she yelled, “We were worried about socialism, we’re moving to Unitarianism.”

The chant, “we are the 99 percent,” was repeated throughout the night.

Police were dragging tents from the Capitol grounds to sidewalks once everyone had vacated the property.

There were about 200 protesters in total. Some said they would be returning to the Capitol at 6 a.m. Monday.

The group had a pledge they read about three times throughout the night.

It said the group is planning to indefinitely occupy the West Lawn space.