Tennessee protesters defy curfew for 3rd-straight night

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Occupy Wall Street protesters and state officials in Tennessee squared off for a third-consecutive night Saturday, even though a local judge has consistently refused to jail the demonstrators and said the state lacks the authority to set a curfew on the property.

The protesters, some of whom have been arrested two-straight nights, were galvanized by the friction between state officials and the local magistrate. Several new demonstrators showed up at the state-owned plaza near the Capitol for the first time Saturday.

The Nashville arrests came after a week of police crackdowns around the country on Occupy Wall Street activists, who have been protesting economic inequality and what they call corporate greed.

Nashville magistrate Tom Nelson has said there’s no legal reason to keep the demonstrators behind bars, and he has released them after each arrest. He has refused each night to sign off on arrest warrants for more than two dozen people taken into custody.