PORTLAND, Maine — An Athens man who last week allegedly attacked somebody who visited the OccupyMaine encampment to voice opposition to the group was one of several individuals booked Friday morning at Cumberland County Jail charged with crimes near the demonstration site.
The burst of post-Thanksgiving arrests in the area come as OccupyMaine is planning a Sunday meeting to discuss the future of the Portland settlement. The demonstrators have scheduled a 1 p.m. community meeting Sunday a week after receiving a slate of safety concerns issued by the city of Portland and going to great lengths to winterize their tents.
Jason Carr, 25, was arrested early Friday morning at 79 Pearl St., a street number near Lincoln Park, where OccupyMaine tents have been set up for nearly two months in support of Occupy Wall Street and in protest of corporate influence on government.
Carr, who on Dec. 17 was charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly pushing and hitting a man who came to the park to voice opposition to the Occupy movement, was charged this time with domestic violence assault in connection with a choking incident in one of the tents.
Carr’s address is listed as 16 Vernal Huff Road in Athens.
Others booked at the jail after being arrested at 79 Pearl St. early Friday morning were Alyssa Brame, 29, and Melissa Ann Ciaramitaro, 18, both listed as transients, and Gabriel Williams, 33, whose address is 9 Anderson St. in Portland.
During the settlement’s Thanksgiving Day meal, some demonstrators expressed concerns to the Bangor Daily News about homeless people who moved into the encampment but didn’t contribute productively to the group. Earlier this month, the group posted a statement online denouncing the actions of those arrested at the site as contradicting the group’s “commitment to nonviolent social and economic change.”
Brame was charged with domestic violence assault, Ciaramitaro was charged with disorderly conduct and Williams was charged with domestic violence assault and unlawful possession of drugs.
Brame and Williams allegedly punched and slapped each other after an argument.
Additionally, Peter Glenn Wing, 49, who lists his address as Lincoln Park, was arrested for assault and violating release conditions Thursday morning and was booked at the jail.
According to police, Wing allegedly attacked a 20-year-old man early Thanksgiving morning who refused Wing’s order to leave because he wasn’t a member of the OccupyMaine movement.
Also Thursday, a 40-year-old man showed up at police headquarters and said he had been thrown to the ground and kicked and punched by several people following an argument while drinking beer in a tent with others, police said. The man was suffering from “significant facial injuries” and admitted to Maine Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. As of Friday afternoon, no arrests had been made and the investigation into the assault continued.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.