PORTLAND — Five people have been arrested and a 40-year-old man is in the hospital after four separate violent incidents at Occupy Maine’s encampment in Lincoln Park between Thursday morning and this morning, said Portland police.
Peter Wing, 49, who has no permanent address, was arrested and charged with assault and violation of bail after a 20-year-old Portland man reported at 5 a.m. Thursday that he was punched and kicked to the ground after refusing to leave the park for not being part of the Occupy Maine movement.
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At 6:10 p.m. Thursday, a 40-year-old Portland man arrived at the Portland police station and reported being assaulted in Lincoln Park. Police said he had “significant” facial injuries and was taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center to be treated for head injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.
Police said the man reported that he had been drinking beer with other people in a tent in the park when an argument began. He said he was punched and kicked by several people. Police did not arrest anyone in the incident, which remains under investigation.
At 11 p.m. Thursday, police responded to a report of domestic violence at the camp. Alyssa Brame, 30, and Gabriel Williams, 33, were reportedly arguing in the kitchen at the encampment, then started punching and slapping each other. They were both arrested and charged with domestic violence assault. Williams was also charged with possession of cocaine.
Another domestic violence incident early this morning led to the arrest of Jason Carr, 25, and Melissa Ciaramitaro, 18. Carr had been arrested at the camp previously for disorderly conduct.
This time, officers arrested Carr after responding at 2 a.m. to a report that he was choking Ciaramitaro inside a tent in Lincoln Park. Police then arrested Ciaramitaro, who was upset by Carr’s arrest and wouldn’t stop screaming, police said.
Randy Santa Cruz, an Occupy Maine protester, said he was glad that those arrested had been taken away and would not be allowed back at the camp. Although they were staying in tents in Lincoln Park, he said, they were not heavily involved in the movement, and he and other protesters had worried they might cause problems.
Santa Cruz said he hoped the incidents wouldn’t give a bad name to the movement and wants to get the word out that people who misuse the camp and cause problems will not be tolerated.
The four incidents in the past two days are not the first outbreaks of violence in the Lincoln Park encampment.
On Nov. 16, 46-year-old Donna Summers was charged with disorderly conduct after hitting a man because she did not want his tent close to hers.
On Nov. 17, Carr was arrested for punching and pushing a man who entered the camp to object the protest.
On Nov. 18, Danny Arnold, 34, allegedly tried to choke a fellow protester, Alan Porter, who was playing a drum to wake up others at the encampment. Police said Christopher Schisler, 34, then hit Porter with the blunt end of a hatchet. Arnold was issued a summons for assault, and police arrested Schisler on a charge of aggravated assault.
On Saturday, a fugitive from New York was arrested after a disturbance at the camp at 2:45 a.m. Robert Fecu, 26, of Brooklyn, who had been sleeping in Lincoln Park, was arrested for carrying a concealed knife, police said.
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