Tag: occupy

A lot is going on with Occupy San Diego.

Occupiers Plans To “Re-Occupy” Freedom Plaza Starting Saturday December 17th

First, a group of the occupiers are planning to re-occupy “Freedom Plaza” – the name given to the Civic Center Plaza by demonstrators – on Saturday, December 17th. They believe they have a right to sleep in public space, and declare:

“Therefore we’re lawfully re-occupying Freedom Plaza.”

Murrieta House Occupied to Foreclose Foreclosure

By Mirna Alfonso / Murrieta Patch / Dec. 15, 2011

A disabled and bedridden schoolteacher Lesliane Bouchard, is in danger of being evicted. She vowed not to leave her home at 40734 Mountain Pride Drive in Murrieta.

Statement by Occupy the Hood:

On December 17, 2011 Occupy the Hood invites you to participate and to let your voice be heard. Our communities have suffered due to neglect by elected officials and criminalization and harassment from the police for way too long. The Occupy movement has changed the national discussion from one of putting blame on individuals for their “own misfortunes” to putting the blame of the crisis on the real criminals- the 1%. The Occupy movement has also highlighted the growing wealth inequality in the worlds riches country.

At 1 in the afternoon we will be holding an open mic session in Chicano Park. This is a space to discuss the many grievances that effects our communities. Afterwards we will hold a general assembly so that we may form solutions in a horizontal manner.

Stop racial profiling and police brutality! Stop the raids and deportations! Stop foreclosures! Community control of community resources!

by Lester Macgurdy / Portland Occupier / Dec. 15, 2011

The Portland Occupation stumbled upon a tactical innovation regarding occupying public spaces. This evolution in tactics was spontaneous, and went unreported in the media. On December 3rd, we took a park and were driven out of it by riot police; that much made the news. What the media didn’t report is that we re-took the park later that same evening, and the police realized that it would be senseless to attempt to clear it again, so they packed up their military weaponry and left. Occupy Portland has developed a tactic to keep a park when the police decide to enforce an eviction.

Protester Ends Hunger Strike to Join Court Battles

A press conference will be held today, Wednesday, Dec. 14th, at 5:00 pm, at the Civic Center Plaza by the Occupy San Diego activist who has been on a hunger strike for 36 days.

Occupy protester and hunger strike participant John Kenney, who was arrested earlier this week for “illegal lodging” at the Civic Center, is currently on his 36th day of the hunger strike. It is anticipated that Mr. Kenny, who as a member of the occupy movement in San Diego has been occupying the Civic Center since October 7, 2011, will announce the end of his hunger strike, his food deprivation protest. John is an OBcean and lives less than a block from the ocean.

In a press statement, Mr. Kenney is quoted:

“I went on hunger strike in an attempt to get the City of San Diego, its Mayor, City Council and the San Diego Police Department to recognize our right to occupy at least part of Civic Center, but they won’t even put the issue on the agenda.”

Occupy Our Homes Press Conference and Occupation

Please see the Facebook Event, invite your friends and repost!

MURRIETA – A disabled and bedridden schoolteacher has vowed not to leave her home if evicted. After gathering over 3000 supporters on a change.org petition and gathering press coverage of her plight, Lesliane Bouchard has now called on the www.occcupyourhomes.org movement to support her plight. Facing foreclosure, there is a simple solution. Ms. Bouchard has approved by the Hardest Hit States Fund principal reduction program. If First Mortgage Corporation opts into this program, she will have the funding to keep her house.

SEATTLE — Police who used “flash-bang” percussion grenades to disperse protesters who blocked an entrance to a Port of Seattle facility Monday say 11 demonstrators have been arrested.

The demonstration was part of a national effort to disrupt West Coast port traffic.

Officers moved in Monday evening after Occupy Seattle protesters tried to set up a makeshift barrier near the entrances to Terminal 5 and Terminal 18, using scraps of wood, aluminum debris and any other material they could scrape together.

Demonstrators blocked traffic, hurling flares, bags of paint, bricks, rebar and other debris at officers and police horses, Detective Jeff Kappel said. One officer was treated by medics after a bag of paint hit his face.

By Davina Lynch

Saturday, December 10 2011: Occupy San Diego gathered with Veteran’s For Peace, ACCE, LGBT groups, PSS San Diego and APRL, and members of other progressive and interfaith groups to come together showing solidarity for the National Day of Action for Human Rights.

Congresswoman Susan Davis and Seisen Saunders, a Buddhist priest from the Sweetwater Zen Center, gave speeches to kick off the march and to show their support for the movement, both expressing that we are all in this together. This was followed by a march through the Gaslamp District of downtown with protesters chanting, “We are unstoppable, a new world is possible!”

Come inside for photos!

UPDATES 5:44 PM – Big Ed Schultz of msnbc mentions the West Coast ports shut down, while highlighting east coast…

By OccupySD Media team

• OSD to march this evening to protest continued violations of 1st Amendment rights
• Protesters demand police chief resignation
• Police spokesman lies about reason for latest police raid
• Another protester to join hunger strike

Occupy San Diego will march Tuesday December 6 at 6:30pm from Freedom Plaza (formerly known as Civic Center) to the San Diego Police station on Broadway and 14th in protest of the continued police brutality, misconduct and unlawful arrests at the OSD protests.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / Dec. 5, 2011

We are so frequently exposed to violence in the United States, most of us probably figure that, like pornography, we know violence when we see it. Enemies go to war, and we watch the carnage live on TV’s 24-hour news cycle. People physically harm each other on our streets and in our homes, and we tally their numbers with the rest of the tidy crime statistics. We replicate violent imagery in film and television, in music and video games, and eagerly consume it as entertainment. Yes, violence is pervasive, and most of us probably figure we have it pegged. But we’d be wrong.

Help defend families facing foreclosure and support filling empty, bank-owned homes with those in need.

By Dave Lagstein, ACCE

Last week thousands made a pledge to defend our homes and communities from the big Wall Street banks that have been on a three-year-long foreclosure binge, kicking struggling families out of homes all across the country.

The 99% is saying “No” and fighting back against the big banks in a big way. Community members nationwide are rallying to stop foreclosures, keep families in their homes, and fill vacant homes with displaced residents.

In their continuing harassment of Occupy San Diego demonstrators, Police arrested nine more at the Civic Center Plaza, early Monday morning – the 5th of December. 7 were taken into custody for “illegal lodging”, one for allegedly “resisting arrest” and the ninth for “vandalism”.

San Diego Police have kept up their constant monitoring and harassment of San Diego’s version of Occupy Wall Street since October 14th. Their unstated goal – doubtlessly ordered by Mayor Jerry Sanders – is to rid City Hall of any sign of the occupiers, and they have been doing this with a drumbeat of arrests and citations for very minor offenses.

While nightly hundreds of homeless people sleep on sidewalks in tents and tarps all over downtown San Diego, the demonstrators have been prevented from using tents, tarps, sleeping bags and for sleeping in and around the Civic Center Plaza.