Carrboro officials learned from Yates

On Saturday afternoon, a group of about 50 protesters known as Carrboro Commune set out to make the proposed site of a controversial CVS drugstore in Carrboro a community space.

Though the three-hour occupation ended without arrests or violence from police or occupiers, the protest — and the way the encampment was disbanded — has sparked comparisons to a similar scene that took place at Yates Motor Company building on Franklin Street in November.

During the November event, Chapel Hill police entered the vacant building armed with assault weapons and arrested eight people, drawing wide criticism for their use of force against protesters.

And Carrboro has taken note of these criticisms in the last several months, which officials said taught them to use less forceful tactics to disband their protest.

“We had the advantage of seeing what happened at Chapel Hill pan out, so some of what happened there helped us deal with this similar situation, so the result was much happier,” said Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton, who was present on Saturday.

Carrboro Police Lt. Chris Atack said he also considers the Yates incident a learning tool.

“Any law enforcement incident is an opportunity for us to try and learn a lesson,” Atack said. “We had time to consider our options, and seeing what happened at Yates helped us.”

Atack said Carrboro police also made it a priority not to use too much force.

“Our mission was not to use force if it wasn’t needed. We gave them the opportunity to leave without arrest, and they took it,” Atack said.

Some residents applauded Carrboro police and officials for their efforts in dispersing protesters.

“In Chapel Hill they treated it like a police action, but in Carrboro, they treated it like a political action,” said Orange County resident Terri Buckner.

Chilton said he made it a goal to engage with protesters about what they wanted and make sure that protesters were given the ability to vacate the building — a factor that has been widely debated in the Yates raid.

“In the case of the other one, the protesters claimed they would have vacated given the opportunity, so I wanted to make sure the people at this protest had been given that opportunity,” he said.

Chilton, who was sworn at and criticized by protesters at the Carrboro encampment, said he also made it a priority to be present at the occupation.

“I wanted to be there because I didn’t want to rely on secondhand accounts of what went on,” he said. “I wanted to witness it firsthand.”

But many of the protesters were not happy with Carrboro official’s actions, citing the town’s removal of their encampment as their main issue.

“People keep saying it was great that the Carrboro mayor and some members of the Board of Alderman were there, but the mayor still sided with the police in having us removed,” said protester and UNC junior Alanna Davis.

Davis also said she was not convinced that the problems that started at Yates, such as police use of weapons, have ended.

She said that when she arrived at the protest at 4 p.m., there were already police at the scene. She said police had guns, and a K-9 unit was present.

“On the surface, the CVS protest was more pleasant, more peaceful,” she said. “Even though they made the decision not to use these tactics, it does not mean that it was outside the realm of possibility.”

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen will meet today, and protesters from Carrboro Commune say they hope to attend and discuss the possibility of using the building as a community site.

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.