ALBANY -- With a band of Occupy Albany activists seated quietly behind them in the wooden pews of City Court, 12 protesters arrested during the first round of arrests in the state-owned half of a park across from the Capitol had their charges dismissed by the district attorney's office on Monday.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares followed through on a promise he made shortly after the local arm of the national Occupy movement began a month ago: that he would not prosecute the protesters as long as they remain peaceful.

"Due to the circumstances, we are declining to prosecute. There was no property damage or violence," Chief Assistant District Attorney David Rossi told Judge Thomas K. Keefe after charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct -- of which each arrested demonstrator was accused -- against the first protester to appear before the court, David Panza, were read just after 10:15 a.m.

Panza, a 21-year-old North Allen Street resident with ear-length dreadlocks, was one of 25 protesters arrested Nov. 12 for crossing from the city-owned Academy Park to the adjacent state-owned Lafayette Park after an 11 p.m. curfew.

Represented by several lawyers from the Occupy Albany legal team, the dozen protesters went before Keefe in succession. Rossi repeated the same language for the first seven protesters before shortening his address to Keefe to simply "we move to dismiss" for final five Occupy Albany defendants.

For the dismissals to be made official, Keefe said, lawyers for Occupy Albany must submit a motion to dismiss for each protester by Dec. 12.

"I'm relatively new to the process of declining to prosecute," Keefe told Rossi on Monday.

The remaining 13 protesters arrested Nov. 12 will appear before Keefe on Tuesday. According to State Police, a combined 123 demonstrators have been arrested in Lafayette Park past 11 p.m.

The arrests crested at 48 Saturday night and Sunday morning. Many of the protesters have been arrested multiple times. To free up court time, Keefe said that he hopes to consolidate the charges against protesters who face violations from more than one arrest into a single court appearance.

"Putting people on for separate days for each of these arrests becomes a nightmare for our court," Keefe said.

By dismissing the charges against the protesters, Soares continued to defy Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has stated publicly that he wants the 11 p.m. curfew enforced. Cuomo has become the target of the Occupy Albany demonstrators, some of them fashioning signs dubbing Academy Park "Cuomoville" or "Cuomo Estates."

"I thought Gov. Cuomo would have seen the futility and folly in opposing this magnificent example of democracy," said Michael Rice, an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor who was arrested in Lafayette Park Saturday night.

While several volatile confrontations between police and protesters have emerged in larger Occupy sites across the country, the city of Albany has allowed the protesters to stay in the Academy Park since they pitched tents there on Oct. 21.

The relatively tranquil arrests in Albany began when protesters intentionally planted themselves in Lafayette Park after 11 p.m. on Nov. 12, challenging State Police to enforce Cuomo's demands. Many of the protesters say they may move away from the nightly routine of slighting the governor.

"I'm happy that the charges have been dropped, and rightfully so," said Nicole Higgins, a 27-year-old registered nurse who had her trespassing and disorderly conduct charges from the Nov. 12 Occupy Albany arrests dropped. "But now I think it might be best if we focus on other ways to get our message across."

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Bradley Russell, the first protester to be arrested after he built a "freedom fort" in Lafayette Park, was one of roughly 20 demonstrators who were not scheduled to appear in court Monday but showed up to support their Occupy Albany comrades.

Russell was arrested in Lafayette Park on five different nights, each time for disorderly conduct and trespassing. Beginning Tuesday, Russell has appearance tickets for four separate court dates over the next week. Russell said he wants the district attorney's office to prosecute him for his first arrest so that a legal precedent can be set for protesters settling in state-owned land across New York.

Mark Mishler, a member of the Occupy Albany legal team, was doubtful that Soares could be pushed to prosecute just one case.

"We can't really force the district attorney to do anything," Mishler said.

The district attorney's office did not comment Monday whether it would prosecute Russell for his first arrest.

Mishler stood with Occupy Albany members as they celebrated outside court after Monday's dismissals. The protesters chanted a swinging chorus of "Power to the People" as they left court together. While seated in the courtroom, Occupy Albany members raised their hands in the air and wiggled their fingers after each dismissal in a sign of solidarity.

After the charges against the final demonstrator were dismissed, Judge Keefe raised his hands and fluttered his fingers in concert with the activists, though the move appeared to be more in jest than support.

Reach Bryan Fitzgerald at 454-5414 or bfitzgerald@timesunion.com. On Twitter: @BFitzgeraldTU.