Two people identified with the ongoing Occupy Detroit protest were arrested Wednesday for interrupting the taping of a public television interview. The arrests, made by Wayne State University police, were the first of any Occupy Detroit protesters since the group settled in at Grand Circus Park downtown.
Joe McGuire and Susie Reed were among 30 people who had gathered in a basement television studio in the Maccabees Building on the WSU campus to watch a taping of the program Leaders on Leadership. The guest being interviewed was Duncan Niederauer, CEO of Euronext and leader of the New York Stock Exchange since 2007.
During the interview, McGuire interrupted to ask Niederauer why he had not been punished for ‘his role’ in America’s present economic crisis. When McGuire persisted, he was arrested by campus police for disrupting a public meeting. Minutes after McGuire was led off, Reed stood in his stead, pursuing the same line of inquiry and causing a 15 minute delay in the show’s taping. Then she too was arrested.
About fifty Occupy Detroit protesters made the trek from Grand Circus Park to the WSU police headquarters, where they stood outside and shouted “Let Joe go.”
Eventually, both McGuire and Reed were released with tickets for disorderly conduct.
Occupy Detroit is a loose confederation of protesters who have been ensconced at Grand Circus Park since October 14. The group’s protest has been peaceful, though it participated in an act of civil disobedience when it temporarily blocked the Fort St egress to the Ambassador Bridge.
There it joined with others in protesting bridge owner Matty Moroun’s failure to complete the Gateway Project, which would provide a direct link between local highways and the bridge.
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