It was two years ago when members of activist group Occupy Everywhere, as well as other groups of protestors, overtook the abandoned Yates Motor Company building at 419 W. Franklin St.
Today the building still sits empty on Franklin Street — a point of contention to many of the protestors.
According to a memorandum Police Chief Chris Blue sent to Chapel Hill Town Manager Roger Stancil in February 2012, there were approximately 65 to 75 protestors in and around the building the night of the incident on Nov. 13, 2011. In the memo, Blue said protestors were planning to hold down the building indefinitely.
That night, law enforcement broke up the protest with assault rifles in tow. Seven people were arrested, resulting in an onslaught of criticism concerning the raid both from protestors and community members.
Both protestors and police stand by their respective actions during the incident.
“Any situation where a police commander is required to make a decision is simply that — use your training and judgment to the best of your ability,” Blue said in an interview Thursday. “That’s the nature of our work.”
Fredy Perlman, a protestor who was present at the time of the incident, remembered the march that started that night at the Anarchist Book Fair in Carrboro and then proceeded to the Yates building.
“I remember it being super fun,” Perlman said. “It was an interesting experiment that the police brutally smashed.”
“Inside, there was a marked contrast to the way the building usually looked,” said Brandon Jordan, another member of Occupy.