BNY’s and Occupiers’ attorneys argue in court

Vincent Eirene, a 59-year-old retired native of Hazelwood, was one of the first Occupiers to… Vincent Eirene, a 59-year-old retired native of Hazelwood, was one of the first Occupiers to file into the Allegheny County Courthouse Tuesday morning.

“The first two rows were filled up by ‘the suits’ at 8 a.m.,” Eirene said, indicating the BNY Mellon executives who sat in the courtroom’s front. “As for me, these are my Christmas clothes — what I’ve been wearing since Christmas.”

Spectators packed into the hearing room, where BNY Mellon’s attorney Daniel Booker, a Pitt alumnus, argued that evicting the Occupiers from their current camp at Mellon Green did not violate the protesters’ First Amendment rights because the rights do not apply to private property.

Booker also cited the dangers of fires and violent outbreaks that might occur as a result of the occupation.

Jules Lobel, one of the attorneys volunteering to represent the Occupiers, countered the argument and said that Mellon Green appears to be a public walking place that has been funded by taxpayer dollars.

At 4:30 p.m., the hearing before Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christine Ward wrapped up. It is set to continue Wednesday at 9 a.m.

The Occupy Pittsburgh movement — an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street — denounces corporate greed in America. Since the nationwide movement’s inception, police have evicted and raided numerous camps around the country.

On Dec. 9, BNY Mellon delivered an eviction notice to the Pittsburgh group, which set up camp on Oct. 15. But the Occupiers refused to leave their campsite by the Dec. 11 deadline. Instead, they seized Mellon Green, renaming it The People’s Park. BNY Mellon filed for injunctive relief to force the Occupiers off the property.

Though the verdict is still not determined for the Occupy Pittsburgh vs. BNY Mellon case, Occupiers started celebrating victory on the streets in what they called a Day of Solidarity.

Jasiri X, a social rapper, performed a number of songs along with a band, and Jack Shea, the president of the Allegheny County Labor Council who also acted as a witness in the trial, followed the performance with a speech.

“I’ve been waiting for this since Ronald Reagan,” Shea shouted into the microphone blaring down to Grant Street, where some 200 protesters gathered. “This is all over the country. We’ve got to continue to go, we’ve got to continue to fight. We’re with you.”

Amidst the cheers that blared over the makeshift sound system that was wheeled around in a shopping cart, a city police car ensured that traffic moved around the surging crowd that leaked off the sidewalk into the road.

One of the trumpeters, 48-year-old John McNulty of Pittsburgh, is confident that the judge will rule in favor of Occupy Pittsburgh.

“I don’t think Mellon’s lawyers presented a good case about [probable dangers and risk]; they didn’t show what our lawyers showed — legal precedent,” McNulty said.

Win or lose, however, the Occupiers of Mellon Green said that they are already preparing for camping through the winter.

Unemployed Taylor Hall, a 22-year-old graduate of Full Sail University, has winter-proofed his tent with tarps and bundled up for the cold months ahead.

Unfazed by whatever the verdict might hold, Taylor said he plans on staying at the camp until he is forced to leave or is peacefully arrested.

“We’re probably going to be forced to leave by spring,” he said. But he is determined that weather not be the reason for the park’s abandonment.

For Tom Coleman, a 47-year-old carpenter who has been following the movement since October, The People’s Park is more than a political statement.

“It’s like “The Lord of the Rings”; in this circumstance, you have us, the Shire,” Coleman said gesturing to the mud-sunken tents around him. “Up there [at the BNY Mellon Center], you have the Tower of Sauron.”

The tents at Mellon Green are a social statement in his eyes.

“And it’s such a great story, right?” Coleman said with a grin. “Because, you know, in the end, the people of the Shire are the ones who end up saving the world.”