NEW YORK - November 3, 2011 - Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York shifted their fight from the streets to the court Thursday, when dozens of people arrested while marching rejected a deal for them to avoid trial.
The first batch of 78 protesters from among hundreds arrested for disorder over the last six weeks filed into New York State court, nearly all of them telling a judge that they were innocent and demanding a jury trial to clear their names.
Prosecutors had offered a deal in which protesters would see charges dismissed provided they kept out of trouble for six months. The mass refusal raised the prospect of protesters clogging up a court system that will be obliged to provide each defendant with a trial lasting approximately a day.
“There’s a general push,” said Joshua Lewis, 23, after rejecting the deal, known in legal terms as an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, or ACD.
“They were offering ACDs and the majority seems to be moving (to reject). I rejected it,” he said. “I’m entirely not guilty.”
Like the others processed Thursday, Lewis was arrested on September 24 during a march in Manhattan’s Union Square area.
Many more have been arrested in other incidents since then, with 16 people detained on Thursday outside the headquarters of Goldman Sachs in the Financial District, the New York Police Department said.
In the biggest incident, hundreds of people were arrested during a march in October across the Brooklyn Bridge. They have not yet entered the court system.
Protesters in court said their refusal to take the deal was a matter of principle.
