Acid bomb hurled at Occupy Maine site
The quiet in Lincoln Park was shattered about 4 a.m. Sunday morning when an acid bomb exploded after being hurled into the site where Occupy Maine protesters have been encamped in numerous tents for the past couple of weeks.
A man who identified himself as Josh said he was awake at the time, and he saw and heard the explosion. The device was thrown from a four-door silver car heading east on Congress Street. Josh is 30 and is from Portland; he’s been homeless for about three months. He is a member of the group’s "deescalation team," which provides security to the members. Josh wouldn’t state how many members patrol at any one time, but he said they patrol 24 hours a day and "step it up after midnight," with the purpose of trying to keep things safe.
Stephanie Wilburn was cooking lunch in the park on Sunday a little before noon. She was up when the early-morning incident took place. Wilburn came to the camp a week ago from the Dover-Foxcroft area to participate in the demonstrations, and says she is homeless.
Wilburn said the explosion occurred about 15 feet from the fence surrounding the park and she was about 10 feet from where it landed. A popular soft-drink container was the vehicle used for the acid bomb. Since there are propane tanks in the park, her main concern was worrying that they might explode.
[Stephanie Wilburn, cooking lunch at the Occupy Maine encampment in Lincoln Park, on 10/23/11.]
Police were called and were at the park within a couple of minutes, according to Wilburn. She said they were very courteous and asked if she wanted to go to a hospital, since her ears were bothering her at that point. They took the container with them.
Acting Chief Michael Sauschuck said the explosion was heard in the police station by the people on duty overnight. That’s almost two blocks away.
Sauschuck said that officers heard an explosion in the West End of the city earlier. He continued, "That leads us to believe Occupy Maine wasn’t specifically targeted." He feels this event "is not a pattern or trend expected to continue." But he says police will be giving "special attention" to the area.
Detectives will be working on the case as an ongoing investigation.
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