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On Friday, January 20th, thousands of people participated in a day of decentralized direct actions, bank blockades, flashmobs, cultural
interventions, picketlines, office takeovers, a foreclosure auction disruption and a building takeover to Occupy Wall St. West -- the San
Francisco Financial District.
One group kicked off the day of action dressed as giant squids at Goldman Sachs, while others shut down Wells Fargo Corporate Headquarters on Montgomery St. by chaining themselves to the doors. Demonstrators also occupied Bank of America's main branch at Montgomery and California streets. At Citicorp's 1 Sansome office, protesters staged a mock foreclosure, piling furniture and moving boxes into the revolving door at the main entrance.
Later in the day, a march ended at Van Ness Avenue at Geary where hundreds of protesters had a rainy standoff with the SFPD. Police pepper sprayed a dozen protesters. More than a hundred occupants gained entrance to the Cathedral Hill Hotel where they held a housewarming party and occupied the hotel until the early hours of the following morning. A site of labor disputes, the hotel sits vacant while 10,000 homeless people are living on the streets of San Francisco.
Occupy SF and allies write, "We have named and mapped these financial institutions so that we can occupy them. Let's expose how Wall St. operates in our midst, attacking our communities, homes, education, environment, democracy, livelihood, and well being. Let's push back against corporate power, overthrow the rule of 'the 1%' and its crazy legal foundation of corporate personhood."
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Community pickets and mass mobilizations to blockade ports have been planned for December 12th by Occupy movements in San Diego, LA, Oakland, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Vancouver, and Houston. Occupy Anchorage, Occupy Denver, and Occupy Wall Street are targeting Goldman Sachs and Walmart on the 12th. Solidarity actions are being planned as far away as in Japan. "Occupy Oakland called for this massive coordinated blockade as a way to strike back at the 1% after their attacks on the Occupy movement and their continued assault on working and poor people” said Boots Riley, an organizer with Occupy Oakland. ”Our action is aimed directly at Wall Street on the Waterfront and is in solidarity with the struggles of port workers in LA and Longview, WA.” Longeshoremen in Longview are currently in a bitter fight with the multinational grain exporter EGT, and port truckers in LA are fighting to unionize against Goldman Sachs-owned SSA.
Organizers of the port blockade see the actions planned for Monday as an important next step for Occupy. In recent weeks, Occupy activists across the country have expanded far beyond encampments and are now targeting large financial institutions, fighting foreclosures, reclaiming public space, and marching on valuable sources of profit for the 1%.
In Oakland, marches to the port will begin at 5.30am at West Oakland BART. At 3pm, there will be a rally at 14th and Broadway, followed by a 4pm sharp march to the port. A 5pm march to the port will leave from West Oakland BART.
 Event announcement |
 Occupy Oakland West Coast Port Blockade Press Conference, 12/09/11: video |
Occupy Oakland West Coast Port Blockade Press Conference, 12/09/11: photos |
OccupyOakland.org |
WestCoastPortShutdown.org
On December 8th at about 7 a.m., approximately 100 police from across Santa Cruz County outfitted in riot gear raided the Occupy Santa Cruz encampment in San Lorenzo Park. Six people were arrested and are being held in jail. Arrestees are reportedly being held on $25,000 bail each (one exception being held on $50,000) for various charges, including failure to leave the park.
Friday, December 2nd will see a full afternoon and evening of protest on the streets of San Francisco. With the rallying cry, "Stop the Cuts! Tax the Rich!", labor and community activists will occupy the Federal Building plaza at 7th and Mission from 2pm. Later in the afternoon they will march past symbols of corporate and financial corruption, continuing into the evening with a rally and concert at the OccupySF encampment at Justin Herman Plaza.
After effectively shutting down and preventing employees from starting the workday at the Hahn Student Services building at UC Santa Cruz starting at 5am on November 28, students held a rally at Quarry Plaza at noon followed by a general assembly at 2pm. After discussion of agenda items, students reached consensus on holding the remainder of the GA at the Hahn building to support those who were still maintaining the shutdown. At Hahn, it was decided that the building would be entered and occupied.
Occupy Santa Cruz has been working to address the needs of those abandoned by corporate medical care. In the face of rocketing health care costs, declining county health services, and now exaggerated heath concerns by city officials, members of the local Occupy Movement have been providing basic health services, including first aid, regular meals, and 24 hour sanitation facilities. To address emergency needs, Occupy Santa Cruz has an EMT and other medical professionals on call who respond promptly to medical issues.
Thursday Nov 24th, 2011 4:31 PM :
Huge feast at the plaza for anyone who is hungry. To-go bags available. #OccupyOakland legal taking reports of witnesses to violent arrests.
Sunday Nov 20th, 2011 10:48 AM :
#OccupyOakland media team interviewing Uptown Park neighbors who've joined marches and want camp to stay. No corporate media in sight.
Sunday Nov 20th, 2011 10:41 AM :
A teacher living upstairs from Uptown Park has provided occupiers with extension cord to make coffee and noodles #OccupyOakland
Saturday Nov 19th, 2011 5:34 PM :
Soundsystem putting out call to bring tents, Champions for Humanity statues watching over new #OccupyOakland site, block party is in effect.
On Saturday, November 19th, a day of mass actions, Occupy Oakland will set up a new occupation in the park and empty lot on 19th and Telegraph adjacent to the Fox Theater in the rapidly gentrifying Uptown neighborhood and entertainment district. A massive march planned for the day will end at this park and Occupy Oakland will begin setting up a new camp. Occupy Oakland is asking for all committees and supporters to begin making plans in whatever way they can to assist the new occupation and come prepared to make it happen.
The new occupation was called for by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on November 17th. Occupy Oakland believes the park and plot of land located at 19th St and Telegraph Ave, and bordered by the Uptown apartment complex and the Fox Theater, is the best location for new re-occupation. They assert that the park and adjacent land offer several strategic and symbolic advantages, noting that the park is located in the uptown neighborhood which is the area that the Chamber of Commerce, the Lake Merritt/Uptown District Association and Downtown Oakland Association, major real estate developers, and city hall are all actively trying to gentrify. These groups represent the interests of the 1% in Oakland and are also the groups that are directly trying to destroy Occupy Oakland.
Occupy Oakland says, "Setting up a camp here will be a symbolic move to put pressure on these groups and send a message that they only look out for the interests of big business and developers, not the needs of all people in Oakland."
Read more | Occupy Oakland Day of Action, Mass Rally & March | National Day of Action Against State Repression of #Occupy
On the afternoon of Friday, November 18th, UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi ordered the UC Davis police to clear student protesters from the main quad on campus. In a gesture of solidarity with UC Berkeley students and faculty, and the national Occupy movement, students at UC Davis had set up tents on the main quad. Police in riot gear arrived to remove the tents, and students responded by sitting in a circle and linking arms around the tents. Without provocation, police pepper-sprayed the students. UC Davis students, alumni and others will converge on Monday, November 21st at noon on the quad to show solidarity and support for the students who were beaten and pepper-sprayed, and for a conversation about the university’s future.
Local Service Employee International Union (SEIU) members participating in the Occupy Day of Action demonstrations which took place on bridges around the country, joined members of Occupy Santa Cruz and members of the local MoveOn.org council to rally at the Santa Cruz County courthouse on November 17 in support of improving and repairing local infrastructure to stimulate job creation. The demonstration began on Water Street Bridge where community members held signs along the pedestrian areas of the bridge.
On November 14th, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the National Lawyers’ Guild (NLG) filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Oakland Police Department (OPD) for its egregious constitutional violations against Occupy Oakland demonstrators. The ACLU-NC and the NLG are suing OPD on behalf of Scott Campbell and other demonstrators subjected to excessive force during recent demonstrations. Campbell, a videographer and Indybay contributor, was shot with what police euphemistically call a " bean bag round", which is a fabric bag full of lead shot fired from a shotgun, while filming a police line at Occupy Oakland after midnight on November 3rd following the November 2nd general strike. Additional plaintiffs include Kerie Campbell, Marc McKinnie, Michael Siegel, and NLG Legal Observer Marcus Kryshka.
On two recent occasions, October 25th and November 2nd, OPD and cooperating police agencies under their direction attacked the plaintiffs and other Occupy Oakland supporters who were peacefully participating in a political demonstration. Police indiscriminately shot flash bang grenades, other projectiles and excessive amounts of tear gas into crowds of peaceful protesters. Police also fired other projectiles at individuals who posed no risk of harm, but were clearly engaged in First Amendment protected activity, such as filming police at a demonstration. This conduct violates the Fourth Amendment by subjecting protesters who posed no safety concerns to unnecessary and excessive force and violates the First Amendment by interfering with their rights to assemble and demonstrate.
OPD’s recent conduct violates its own Crowd Control Policy, adopted in the settlement of a lawsuit arising from OPD’s prior mishandling of a large protest in 2003. The policy strictly limits the use of force and prohibits the indiscriminate use of shot-filled "bean" bags and other projectiles against crowds or peaceful protesters.
 Read more |
Shot by police with rubber bullet at Occupy Oakland |
See also:
Battle for Occupy Oakland - Palo Alto PD Attack Indybay Reporter, 10/25/11: video & photos ||
Class Action Lawsuit Asserts Constitutional Violations at Oscar Grant Demonstrations
Occupy CSU Monterey Bay will hold a rally, march and general assembly on Tuesday, November 15th starting at 1pm at Library Plaza on Divarty St and 5th Ave at CSUMB. A flyer for Occupy CSUMB states, "The California State University system is infected with the same disease as the rest of our sick society. It is designed to allow a small group of people to enrich and empower themselves at our expense. So as our tuition rises every year, and the staff and faculty are denied promised raises, the top administrators throughout the system receive outrageous salaries and benefits."
Occupy Oakland continues to kick through the boundaries of what was previously thought possible, upping the ante of what it means to resist against corporate greed and state oppression. Just one day after a hundred people were arrested, two encampments were physically smashed to the ground, and a thousand supporters were attacked by police with chemical weapons and projectiles in a manner that shocked the conscience of the nation, Occupy Oakland collectively took the audacious and ambitious step of calling for the first General Strike in America in sixty-five years.
On Saturday, November 12th at 5 AM, 15 - 20 deputies with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department swarmed the courthouse steps occupation location of Occupy Santa Cruz, blocking it off with police tape from the lower camp in San Lorenzo Park. The deputies reinforced the County’s unofficial but repeated written notice that “lodging” was prohibited, and indicated any tents not removed voluntarily would be confiscated. A few tents were voluntarily moved, but a dozen tents and all personal property in them were taken by the sheriffs.
Although this action stopped at the courthouse steps, sheriffs indicated that if the geodesic dome, food services, medical station and personal tents were still there Monday, they would be forcibly removed as well. On the night of November 11th, 15 lodging tickets were issued and two people were arrested. The City of Santa Cruz is also pursuing an injunction against the encampment at San Lorenzo River Park Benchlands for being a “public nuisance.”
Read more | Authorities Continue Raids On Occupy Santa Cruz
See also: Chris Doyon ("Commander X") Gets A Warning-less Lodging Ticket || Occupiers Get Permit to Camp || Two Protests at City Hall Monday and Tuesday || Sheriffs Demand Breakdown of OSC Geodesic Dome || Occupy Santa Cruz Stands Up to Order to Leave on November 16th || City Manager and Vice-Mayor Stonewall OSC Activists || Robert Norse Repeats Mock Nazi Salute at City Council Meeting
Previous coverage: UC Santa Cruz Students Join Occupy Movement with "Occupy Education" Protest | Occupy Santa Cruz Holds Demonstration in Support of the General Strike in Oakland
In solidarity with the call by Occupy Oakland for a general strike, which was in response to the police violence in Oakland that resulted in the serious injury of Scott Olsen and others, Occupy Santa Cruz members called for a strike to be held in Santa Cruz on November 2nd. Suggestions to avoid work and or/school were made, and community members gathered at the county courthouse steps for a march and demonstration downtown.
Approximately 50 people participated in the march, which first made visits to Bank of America and Wells Fargo, then continued downtown to Friendship Garden in front of Jamba Juice and the Flatiron building, where a rally was held that featured an open mic segment. Among a variety of topics, people spoke about what was going on at Occupy Oakland, and they spoke about Scott Olsen and paid tribute to him, including chanting repeatedly in unison, "I am Scott Olsen, I am Scott Olsen." On the way back to the county courthouse occupation location, the demonstrators stopped again at Bank of America. Both that bank and Wells Fargo still had security guards in place that locked the doors when protesters arrived.
Read more and view photos | Evolution of the Camp at Occupy Santa Cruz: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
See also: Three Harassment Tickets by an SCPD Officer || Starhawk at Occupy Santa Cruz || Democratic Party Statement of Support--But Notice the Lack of Local Specifics || Growing Police Threats and Defensive Response at Occupy Santa Cruz || Arrest for no ID || Previous coverage: Occupy Santa Cruz Marches on Banks
Early on October 25th, expecting a police raid at Occupy Oakland in Oscar Grant Plaza, occupiers began to erect barricades along the perimeter and access ways to the plaza. At 4:30am, over 500 police surrounded the plaza. Police fired projectiles and tear gas shells and hand-lobbed at least one flash-bang grenade over the barricades before marching through the camp tearing down tents and pulling down almost everything that stood in the plaza. Over 70 people were arrested during the raid. Later in the day, Alameda County Sheriff's deputies repeatedly deployed massive amounts of tear gas and fired projectiles into a crowd of marchers throughout the night. Numerous people were injured, some seriously when projectiles were fired at the heads of protesters. On October 26th, occupiers removed fencing and again took Oscar Grant Plaza, holding their daily General Assembly which voted 1484 to 46 for an Oakland general strike on Wednesday, November 2nd.
1:30PM Saturday Feb 11
Free documetary: THRIVE
2PM Saturday Feb 11
Radical Music
10:30AM Sunday Feb 12
True Cost of Coal
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At the last general assembly of 2011, Occupy Oakland decided to take over a large vacant building with the purpose of putting it to the use of the people of Oakland. Since then, move-in assemblies have been meeting twice a week to plan the move in. This new social center will be launched with a two day Oakland Rise Up Festival packed with speakers, workshops and performances.
