UPDATE: Statement from the Asheville Police Department:

On November 11, 2011 persons identifying themselves as Occupy Asheville held a vigil at the Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Approximately 40 persons attended the vigil which began at 9:30 pm. The park where Vance Monument is located closes at 10:pm, at 11:15 pm the persons attending the vigil were advised that the park was closed and remaining was a violation of the trespassing law. At 11:56 pm Asheville Police Officers gave a second warning to those remaining, On November 12 at 12:05 am three individuals remained and were arrested for trespassing and transported to the Buncombe County Detention Facility where all three were charged and released on a written promise to appear in court. All three arrested stated they were veterans, at this time this is not confirmed.

The APD report included the names and photographs of the three arrested as follows:

Kenyon McClellan, 72



Kendra Phillips, 41



Jonathan Geler, 25



Based on reports from two citizens on the scene, it appears that Asheville police arrested three Veterans just minutes after midnight on Nov. 12 for violating the city’s 10 p.m. park curfew, in a Veterans For Peace/Occupy Asheville vigil that began Friday night of Veterans Day before the curfew and continued until the arrests occurred.

Here’s the timeline, based on reporting — via Twitter with the hashtag #occupyasheville — from two citizens at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville, Friday night, Nov. 11, and into the morning of Nov. 12 (links are to photos of the event by @NCMattJ):

9:43pm @NCMattJ: • picket signs at the Vance Monument. http://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/NCMattJ/status/135185830070337536/photo/1

9:45pm @NCMattJ: • http://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/NCMattJ/status/135186373744406530/photo/1

9:47pm @NCMattJ: • Veterans For Peace vigil at Vance Memorial in dwntwn Avl http://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/NCMattJ/status/135186899282309121/photo/1

9:48pm @NCMattJ: • Crowd at Vance Monument has now grown to at least 50

10:00pm @NCMattJ: • A small fire is now burning. http://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/NCMattJ/status/135189907550388224/photo/1

10:00pm @NCMattJ: • I’ve now left the park to avoid arrest. Across the street, still in Pack Square

10:11pm @NCMattJ: • Still no police presence yet

10:19pm @NCMattJ: • Against the published plan, more than just veterans (about 40-50) remain in the “park”.

10:26m @NCMattJ: • About 50 people in the park now. Somber and quiet singing going on. http://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/NCMattJ/status/135196731586523136/photo/1

11:30pm @ivanrich: • Asking nonveterans to leave park. Police will return for arrest. Citation, leave, or arrest

11:44pm @ThunderPig: • Asheville PD staging west of the Vance Monument. I expect arrests to happen soon @NCMattJ is live at http://t.co/fwmCQOEE

00:07am @ivanrich: • Police drive off after arresting 3 vets (possibly 2 more?) at Vance…1 min after Veterans day

00:09am @NCMattJ: • The police are still in the park at this time. Everyone else has disbursed.

00:42am @NCMattJ: • … 3 vets were arrested 1 min after midnight.

00:47am @ivanrich: • Waiting for #Asheville veterans to be released after arrest at #OccupyAsheville http://t.co/rZo0QHj

Video from the scene by @NCMattJ (Matt Johnson) can be seen at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupy-asheville-protest#utm_campaign=unknown&utm_source=9721060&utm_medium=social .

Twelve-minute video by OccupyAsheville is below: