Two people were arrested Saturday night after a group of Occupy Minnesota protesters moved from downtown Minneapolis to a foreclosed house in south Minneapolis. Police have said more arrests could be coming.
About six hours after the group relocated to the house in the Corcoran neighborhood, Minneapolis police swept through around 6 p.m. and arrested Michael Anthony Bounds, 19, and Devin Wynn-Shemanek, 19.
As the police went through the house and started boarding up its windows, a group of protesters surrounded the house, linking arms and chanting: “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out! Stop foreclosures now!”
Protesters flooded back into the house after police left the scene.
The arrests came just days after 11 protesters were arrested Thursday for blocking traffic on the 10th Avenue Bridge during a small demonstration on the University of Minnesota campus.
Bounds was booked into Hennepin County Jail on probable cause of burglary. Information on Wynn-Shemanek’s potential charges was not available.
A YouTube video taken from OccupyMN’s live video stream shows Wynn-Shemanek standing in front of a squad car as it drives away from the house. The car pushed him, still standing, several feet down the block before officers stepped out and arrested him on the car’s hood.
As of 9 p.m. Saturday, more than 50 protesters were holed up in the house, empty save for a handful of couches and cots. The protesters quickly divided into committees to address how to occupy the property.
Broadcasted on the OccupyMN livestream, University anthropology lecturer Sara Kaiser thanked the protesters “who decided to defend my house.”
It’s unclear when Kaiser’s home was foreclosed upon, and if the protesters have the legal right to stay inside the empty house. According to Hennepin County property data, U.S. Bank currently owns the house, but Minneapolis property data still lists Kaiser as the owner.
A Minneapolis Police Department sergeant on the scene said the occupation was illegal, and that officers might arrest more people on grounds of trespassing and burglary.
Neighbor Mark Edwards said that Kaiser hasn’t lived in the house since June 2010.
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