Still No Arrest in Alleged “Occupy” Sex Assault

No arrests in the alleged Occupy Philly sex assault as tensions between the protesters and the city increase

Though a man was questioned, still no one has been charged in an alleged sexual assault of a woman at the Occupy Philly encampment at City Hall.

The sex assault on a 23-year-old woman allegedly happened inside one of the 312 tents in Dilworth Plaza at about 8 p.m. Saturday, police say.

Police initially questioned a 50-year-old man from Michigan, as well as another person, but arrested no one.

The alleged sex assault tipped the so-far patient Mayor Michael Nutter to increase police presence and to ask the “occupiers” to leave the area, as it has become unsanitary and a revitalization project on the plaza is scheduled to begin.

Nutter said that the project will create 1,000 jobs for “Philadelphians, Pennsylvanians, who need jobs, who need to take care of their families, their 99 percent in their households." But those jobs can’t begin until “the occupiers” leave.

“In recent weeks, there have been numerous reports of thefts and assaults in the Occupy Philly space,” Nutter said Sunday.

“The people of Occupy Philly have changed and their intentions have changed. All of this is not good for Philadelphia. We must change our relationship with them.”

Philadelphia police say the sexual assault is still under investigation.
 

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