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The Daily Tar Heel

2 years later, Yates raid remembered

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.

Inside the Yates building, people were setting up a kitchen and library, projecting films and even having a dance party, Jordan said.

Some protestors said they felt the raid on the building wasn’t handled appropriately. After the raid, the Community Policing Advisory Committee launched a review of the Chapel Hill Police Department’s actions.

“They went to pretty terrifying extremes,” Jordan said. “If you’re going to keep a building empty in a country with so many poor and homeless people, you have to have police teams to defend them. But I don’t think it’s justifiable.”

Following the town’s review of the department, Blue said his officers underwent trainings to better handle large-scale demonstrations.

Perlman said he would be interested in participating in another Yates-style protest again.

“If we want to use a building for a meeting we have to build power and take it,” he said. “I’m not interested in getting permission.”

Blue said the department is more confident in its ability to handle any large-scale demonstration in the future.

“I think it’s safe to say we learn from every situation.”

city@dailytarheel.com

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