Occupy Portland: 15 year old arrested and cameraman asaulted
After an attempt by Occupy Portland to re occupy Chapman Square Park, they were kicked out by police. In response, they aggressively harangued the police:
After police left, at around 2 am, a 15 year old occupier, who had earlier been verbally abusing the police, removed fencing around the park, destroying public property. The cameraman, who is not affiliated with Occupy and saw the crime, tells the police. The other occupiers claim he didn’t do it, although the video clearly shows he did. The cameraman is then attacked and threatened.
Local news, The Oregonian, noted the 15 year old boy was found and arrested while he was climbing the elk statue.
He was taken into custody and charged with criminal trespassing, criminal mischief and interfering with police. He was also cited for violating city codes. He was released to his mother.
The Oregonian, quoting the police, said:
”On that corner, demonstrators became mildly aggressive and repeatedly threatened that the real confrontation would happen on May Day (May 1st),” the press release said. “May Day is traditionally an opportunity for labor groups and activists to peacefully protest throughout Portland.”
and:
Police also said they took the threats about protesting on May Day as the group’s intention to protest on May 1, and that sources have said that some groups are interested in causing “more extreme civil unrest through more direct, disruptive action.”
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/04/portland_police_release_statem.html
Occupy SF: seizing more Church property, violence, threats to shut down Golden Gate
Over the Palm Sunday weekend, Occupy San Francisco seized a building owned by the Catholic Archdiocese at 888 Turk .
Calling it the “San Francisco Commune”, about 75 people took over the building, causing thousands of dollars of damage, blockading it and forcing police to have to remove them.
More on the story here: http://citizenjournalistdotorg.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/its-ours-because-we-say-it-is/
Now, they’re at it again.
They have allegedly seized another Church property, noting on their website:
The SF COMMUNE arose from the ashes on Easter Sunday at an undisclosed Church owned property. Less than one week after the Archdiocese commanded SFPD to violently evict and arrest 75 folks from 888 TURK St., a new Collective Housing Community Center has been established. The SF Commune will not tolerate the systems that force 7,000-10,000 San Franciscan’s to remain homeless while over 30,000 housing units are wasting away vacant.
On MAY DAY, the SFC will open it’s doors and conduct another OPEN OCCUPATION in solidarity with the MAY 1ST GENERAL STRIKE. For the next three weeks, the new site will continue to thrive covertly, engaging in mutual aid and direct democracy, in preparation for May Day. The SFC has been initiated to provide a perpetual, autonomous headquarters for the Occupy SF movement.
http://occupysf.org/2012/04/14/sfcommune-resurrection/
They are asking for supplies for their “new commune”, the location of which they will formally announce on May 1.
http://occupysf.org/2012/04/17/sfcommune-backyard-social-potluck/
@sf99er Great for the movement! NOT!I Quit going to GA because of craziness Move it indoors & I’ll return Hope Beth is ok!#OWS#OSF#OO
Occupy SF, unlike some other cells, has no problem referring to their actions as “anti capitalist”, calling for all “radicals and anti capitalists” to come out to blockade Wells Fargo on April 24:
Yeah. We’re about to help shut down the Goldeng Gate bridge on May Day. Not a big deal at all.@VizFoSho@MikeQtips@CoupeDVillain
Golden Gate Transit Workers Union calling for Golden Gate Bridge shutdown for May Day
#osf - http://ustre.am/F52R (7:02pm)
Police arrive at Occupy sidewalk encampment
We introduced you to the OWS encampment on the sidewalk at Broad and Wall Street yesterday.
http://citizenjournalistdotorg.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/occupy-sleeping-on-wall-street/
More pictures of the encampment today, with police apparently arriving on scene:
You can see the encampment takes up a substantial part of the sidewalk, and appears to be a messy jumble of boxes, blankets, books and other items
No sooner do we write of the blossoming site on the sidewalks of NY (well at least the 15-30 people, but lots of stuff!), then police arrive around 5:30 pm today. Some campers fled the scene as the police arrived.
As they saw the arrival of the police and OWS leaving, several neighbors, who suffered through last fall’s occupation, watched with glee and relief.
“This is a ridiculous replay of the health and safety abuses we suffered for months from the Occupy Wall Street campout in Zuccotti Park,” said one resident who lives on Liberty Street one block away from the sleeping bags on Broad St. ”It’s absurd I have to take my young children to school in the morning by walking over guys illegally camping out in sleeping bags and smoking pot. The mayor doesn’t seem to care that this is a residential neighborhood, not a political convention center for ragtag activists”
Update: Police are allowing them to sleep there for now, but without furniture, only sleeping bags. OWS is calling for “500 more” reinforcements to join them. Upon hearing that they might remain, some neighbors were distressed, fearful of having all the same problems come back. One neighbor also spoke of prior threats some had experienced for commenting to media in past. “We’ve been told, ‘We know who you are and we’re watching you’”.
Update: Turns out the “500″ didn’t show. Only about 20 people bedded down for the night.
