To sit or to stand, that is the question.
Or that was the question from one of our readers on Twitter Wednesday.
Nineteen Occupy Raleigh protesters were arrested and charged with second-degree trespassing Saturday following a rally at the Capitol Building. The protesters’ permit expired at 3 p.m. Arrests were made around 7:30 p.m. after state police asked demonstrators to leave.
Although Occupy Raleigh demonstrators no longer have a permit to use the state Capitol grounds, some remain, taking up posts on the nearby city sidewalk. But our Twitter follower asked: Must they sit or stand?
“They will tell you we can stand, but that answer on site varies [by] officer,” reported the OccupyRaleigh twitter account, in response.
On Sunday, Eddy Samara said police, “made a pretty big deal about not letting anyone sleep, not letting anyone stand.”
On Monday, protestor Will Carroll said police, “actually finally let us sit down on the ground now, whereas before we were standing for the past couple of days.”
So we checked with the RPD. The answer is: Either.
“They can sit or stand,” said Raleigh Police Spokesman Jim Sughrue. “They can do whatever they like to do. To the best of our knowledge, no officials have told them otherwise.”
Sughrue said the main goal of police officers is to keep the sidewalks open so other people can pass.
“We want to make sure everyone who’s out there is safe,” he said.
