DAVID HARDEN/Arizona Daily Wildcat Officers from the UAPD take Daniel Patterson to a waiting patrol car after he was arrested during a protest against the construction of telescopes on Mt. Graham yesterday on the Mall.

2 arrests made at Mall demonstration of telescope proposal

Police were called to a protest in front of the UA Administration building yesterday, leading to the arrest of a UA law student and a Tucson environmentalist.

UAPD was called after Daniel Patterson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, was accused of assaulting another protester, said UAPD spokesman Sgt. Eugene Mejia said.

UA students and community members were protesting the building of telescopes on Mount Graham, in Safford.

Protesters plastered "Likins is a liar," "UA off Mt. Graham" and "No more genocide" on signs and held them high in the Mall area.

About 30 protesters stood around the flower bed in front of the building and held a drum ritual in a show of support for the Western Apache Indians, who have historically used Mount Graham as a religious site to gather holy herbs and water, Patterson said.

"The UA has consistently desecrated the sacred values on Mount Graham. There are already mountain ranges that have telescopes on them, such as Kitt Peak, so there is no reason to choose this specific mountain."

The protest escalated as police were taking Patterson in handcuffs to a police car. According to UAPD, the protesters huddled around the officers.

"They began to surround the officers and started yelling and screaming," Mejia said. "For officers' safety, they were asked to stay back repeatedly."

Rachel Wilson, a UA law student and student activist, was arrested as Patterson was being detained. After the arrest, the crowd moved back, Mejia said.

Patterson said his arrest was unwarranted and unnecessary.

"It was totally unjust and unjustified and the university police department was very heavy-handed in their approach," he said.

Patterson blamed the initial report of assault on a Tucson resident that has caused problems for protesters before.

"This man made a totally false claim. There was no assault and no need for the police to be called," he said.

Wilson, who was participating in the protest, said her arrest was also unnecessary.

Other than holding a "No more genocide" sign and participating in a prayer circle, she was doing nothing more than collecting facts on Patterson's arrest, she said.

As she followed Patterson and the officers, she said she was taking notes and police asked her to move.

While she was moving out of the way, another officer shoved her. She said she then tried to get the officers name and was arrested.

That is the fourth time that Wilson has been arrested in conjunction with protests. She said this arrest was different than the others.

"Two of those times I was chained to a building," she said. "It was totally weird (this time) because I wasn't participating in any civil disobedience."

New roads and other construction projects at the telescope site are jeopardizing the health of the ecosystem and harming the natural environment, Patterson said.

There are more than 18 species of plants and animals on the mountain that would become seriously damaged due to this construction, he added.

Patterson said he thinks that his arrest is another incident in a pattern of anti-environmental acts at the hands of UAPD.

"This was totally unjustified and never should have happened," he said.

Mejia said UAPD would not comment on the arrestees' accusations because the investigation is ongoing. He said their opinions might be different from the facts.

"Obviously a person who gets arrested has a different perception," he said.