The son of the rhythm and blues singer Bo Diddley has been arrested as he tried to support occupiers of a plaza in Florida named after his father.
A number of protesters, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street takeover of Zuccotti Park in New York, had set up camp at the Bo Diddley Community Plaza in Gainesville.
After the city authorities refused the protesters' request to extend a permit that allowed them to remain in the park overnight on Wednesday, police moved in on Thursday night and ordered about 50 occupiers to leave. Diddley's son, Ellas Anthony McDaniel, 56, was among four who were picked up.
McDaniel told the Independent Florida Alligator: "This is my father's park. For them to arrest me in that plaza is ludicrous. ... I'm an American. This is freedom of assembly."
The Alligator story continues:
The members of Occupy Gainesville had a permit to stay in the plaza Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but the permit did not last past normal public hours Thursday night.
For McDaniel, the permit didn't matter. He said it was wrong that the city gave Occupy Gainesville a permit for only one night.
"There's a symbolic stone in front of me that says freedom of speech," he said, referring to the gray stone with the Bill of Rights on it. "I feel like a number of my rights have been violated."
There's more on this story at the Daily Kos, which says:
After two days of discussion and deliberation on whether to occupy the Plaza without a permit and to reject the City Manager's attempt to mislead them into accepting a 24 hour only permit (which could not be re-applied for within a year) the occupiers of Gainesville Florida's downtown Community Plaza, recently renamed in honor of the area's long-time resident and active citizen Bo Diddley, the police took action to evict the peaceful citizens.
• This article was amended on 15 October 2011. A YouTube video of the arrest was removed on request.
