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Indybay Feature

7 pm: It's When Free Speech Ends

by via Occupy Santa Cruz
The Santa Cruz County Sheriffs, after breaking down and stealing our infrastructure this morning, have arrived to completely evict our courthouse demonstration. They have told us that anyone on the courthouse property from 7pm to 7am will be arrested.
7pm-occupy-santa-cruz.jpg
In response to this, one of our occupiers has locked himself to the steps. If you are able to, please come down to show your support and solidarity at this time, and help to protect our friend!

We will also need as much community support as possible at tomorrow’s General Assembly, regularly scheduled for 6pm-8pm. Dare the Santa Cruz County Sheriffs disrupt our self-organization when the lights go out on free speech at 7pm?
§Another Report
by Robert Norse
Casey reported from the courthouse steps about half an hour ago that several dozen people were there in solidarity with two men locked to the railing in protest of the Curfew on the Constitution announced by Sheriff Wilson. The new "No Go" zone at night is an unprecedented policy which effectively cuts First Amendment activity time in half by eliminating nighttime protest. It mirrors the outrageous rule unilaterally, illegally, and unconstitutionally announced by city Parks and Recreation Director Dannettee Shoemaker last year when she posted "closed after 10 PM" signs at City Hall to criminalize protesters there. (See "Bad Law Rises Up to Bite the Homeless Again--Parks Boss Steals More Public Space" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/23/18656639.php)

The "No Constitution in Santa Cruz" sickness has apparently spread from city officials to county bureaucrats who feel they can ignore basic human rights on a whim (with not even a debate at their legislatures--City Council and the Board of Supervisors).

I guess this is just a case of petty tyrants imitating their national leaders. Obama has effectively instituted military "court" jurisdiction over anyone he dubs a "suspected terrorist" ("unprivileged belligerent"). This was ratified and codified last week in the Senate with the "endless war" expansion of the 2001 Authorization of Military Force amendment, the removal of all restrictions on the military regarding suspected terrorists in the U.S. far away from the Pentagon's latest battlefields, and the indefinite continuation of Guantanamo and similar indefinite detention/torture centers. (See at "Congress endorsing military detention, a new AUMF " at http://www.salon.com/2011/12/01/congress_endorsing_military_detention_a_new_aumf/singleton/ )

Apparently those in power think the community will let them get away with whatever slice-and-dice-ing of the Constitution they get into their goon-squad protected heads.

It's also noteworthy that this latest blitzkrieg of attacks on peaceful political protest at the courthouse comes in the midst of ongoing negotiations with the very same Lt. Wilson--whose bad faith is now clear. Wilson and the County CAO assistant reportedly assured Occupy Santa Cruz activists that the newly posted "No Trespass 7 PM to 7 AM" signs didn't apply to Occupy Santa Cruz and others in the front of the courthouse. When they came this morning to destroy the Occude and exclude/remove all tents from the front of the courthouse--without warning--they gave no indication they'd be returning to remove all bodies at 7 PM that night.

One can only hope these "shock and awe" tactics will stir angry and determined resistance in the community.
§Still Another Report
by Robert Norse
Becky Johnson called in with an on-the-spot report that Tom and Mike were still locked down and hanging tough with half a dozen people support people still there and no sign of deputies.
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Robert Norse
Crushing the Constitution is Bad News for All Of Us

[Portions of this speech were not given because of time constraints]


Hi. I'm Robert Norse. Over the years, I've raised issues in the community about how homeless and poor people face growing criminalization just for being in the public spaces.

I've spoken about the sleeping ban... the growing power of the police...the repression of speakers at Santa Cruz City Council. A trial of two former mayors is slated to begin this spring in federal court in San Jose for just this kind of repression

But today's issue is broader than that impacting just one person or one group. It's not just colorful dissidents or homeless folks that face persecution and prosecution. It is any individual or group of individuals whose protest discomforts CAO Susan Muriello, Sheriff Wowak, Police Chief Vogel, or City Manager Martin Bernal

We have watched over the years the steady erosion of civil liberites in this country...and locally.

Pretexts like the War on Terror and the War on Drugs and the War on Crime—have all been the rationale for restricting, rolling up, or outright removing basic rights.

Congress has just given the President a hunting license to arrest and indefinitely detain without charges or trial, any American citizen the President chooses to label a suspected terrorist. Of course, Obama is already using a hunting license to assasinate without charges or hearing, U.S. Citizens abroad and to jail them at home.

Locally, we face grim prospects.

A non-violent but well-attended and persistent protest--the Occupy movement--is under attack nationally. In city after city, politicians and their police are smashing these protests—first smearing them, then physically demolising them.

Apparently visible and effective protest against foreclosure, financial ripoffs, police violence, and political collusion is a no-no.

Sheriff Wowak's deputies have stepped up their campaign here to crush the peaceful on-going protest of Occupy Santa Cruz on the steps of the courthouse on Water St.

Authorities have moved from threats, to "lodging" tickets, to seizure of property without charges or receipts, to a new Curfew on the Constitution. In an unprecedented move Sunday night--without any public debate or Supervisoral vote, armed sheriffs announced no peaceful protest would be allowed 7 PM to 7 AM at the very seat of government.

On Sunday morning 60 riot police showed up in riot gear,jack boots, and body armor with batons drawn.

They destroyed the "Occu-Dome"--a structure set up to provide protection for protesters from the rain and cold and storage for their literature. They seized property and personal effects from protesters without giving receipts.

Twelve hours later, they suddenly announced that even sitting on the steps with a sign in front of the county building would be adjudged a "trespass" crime and subject the "criminal" to 6 months in jail and/or $1000 fine.

Two men who maintained a vigil there all through Sunday night and Monday morning were arrested, handcuffed, and jailed.

The city has simultaneously announced it will be deporting and dispersing the several hundred Occupy Santa Cruz campers in San Lorenzo Park, many of them homeless, in the dead of winter with no alternative shelter available. This latest mass expulsion is slated to take place 5 PM Wednesday December 7th, Santa Cruz's own Day of Infamy.
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The federal court in San Jose has delayed action on an earlier Public Nuisance claim by City Attorney Barisone and city lawyers intent on crushing the protest, It has requiring the City to come to court in early January to address issues of freedom of speech and assembly before their demolition mission.

Rather than wait for this lawful process, City Attorney Barisone and Parks and Rec boss Dannettee Shoemaker have moved to shortcut the constitution and administratively declare the encampment a Public Nuisance--without any judicial review or legislative process.

This is also being done in violation of City Codes 4.14 and 4.16 that mandate a ten day period during which an appeal can be heard.

On line we can see photos of County sheriffs stealing or vandalizing property, confiscating political signs, and goosestepping around in full riot gear. The world can see them blocking off streets, wielding batons, and using their threat of force to remove peaceful legal public protest. Just outside.

Has the D.A. Taken action to prosecute these lawbreakers in uniforms ? Have the Supervisors—as Supervisors in some other cities like Oakland and San Francisco—stood up to denounce this kind of iron heel crackdown? No.

Why? Because politicians and police unfortunately have a vested interest in keeping things as they are, in retaining the power of the banks and the wealthy. Or to put it more narrowly, they are afraid of and subservient to that power.

So it remains to members of the community, to all of us—to speak out. And to come out.

Even those not happy with some aspects of this protest should recognize the seriousness of these new Constitution-clipping measures –the implications for all future protests, regardless of who is doing them.

No. Come down to the 6 PM General Assembly which happens every night in front of the courthouse. Watch, witness, and help deter this dangerous misconduct by authorities.
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