Feature Archives

On September 17th, over one thousand demonstrators poured into New York City's financial district to confront corporate greed by establishing an ongoing presence, day and night, in lower Manhattan. The idea was to create an American Tahir Square on Wall Street. Police blocked marchers from reaching Wall Street, but hundreds persisted and set up camp in Zuccotti Park, now dubbed Liberty Plaza. In San Francisco, demonstrators likewise called for an occupation of the financial district starting the same day, outside of 555 California Street. The SF occupation is currently located in front of the Federal Reserve building on Market Street, although after midnight on October 6th, SFPD and city workers raided the site and took away the kitchen, tents, and truckloads of other occupier supplies. Several were beaten by SFPD and one was arrested during the raid. Occupations began in San Jose on Oct. 2nd, in Santa Cruz and Sacramento on Oct. 6th, Berkeley on Oct. 8th, Fresno on Oct. 9th, in Oakland on Oct. 10th and one is planned to start in Santa Rosa on Saturday, Oct. 15th.

On September 8th, 2011, an art exhibit of children's drawings was banned by the Museum of Children's Art in Oakland (MOCHA). Much of the artwork was drawn by children participating in a "Let the Children Play And Heal" project. It was developed to address the needs of traumatized children after the 2008/2009 Israeli assault on Gaza. Zionist organizations are suspected of having intimidated MOCHA into canceling the show, despite the fact that MECA had been working with the museum for months planning the local exhibit. On September 23rd, a demonstration was held in front of MOCHA to protest the censorship. On September 24th, supporters first gathered in the courtyard outside of the MOCHA building, displaying reproductions of the Gazan children's artwork, until an announcement was made about a new venue for the exhibit around the corner. The exhibit is set to show through November 30th.

On September 22nd at UC Berkeley, between 100 and 200 students marched from a rally in front of Sproul Hall and entered Tolman Hall to protest austerity measures cutting public education throughout the state of California. Demonstrators entered the lobby of the building only to be met by police batons and pepper spray. Police claim that pepper spray was used in response to someone grabbing a magazine clip from one of the officers, but at least one witness says that these were two separate events, and that the magazine clip was only found later after a police officer dropped it. Students were able to hold room 2308 and other parts of the first floor through the afternoon and into the evening until police evicted them from the building. Two protesters were arrested and remain in jail.

Redwood Curtain CopWatch writes: Four years ago, Martin was 26 years old, unarmed and living on the streets when he was killed by the Eureka Police when they pummeled his body in broad daylight, in front of a homeless shelter, then brought him to the jail to die.... The case, Siehna Cotton et al v. City of Eureka is being heard before U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong and a seven person jury.... Marty Cotton, Sr. says, “We want to expose the truth, ideally, so those cops can never wear a badge and weaponry and never do this to anyone else again.” On September 23rd when the verdict was announced, the City of Eureka and three Eureka police officers lost as the jury awarded the Martin Cotton family over $4.5 million.

On August 24th, family and supporters of Raheim Brown Jr. once again gathered at Oakland Unified School District headquarters to demand that OUSD police officers Barhin Bhatt and Jonathan Bellusa, the officers responsible for the murder of Raheim Brown, be fired and charged with the killing. This time, though, the anger was even more intense as it was learned less than a week earlier that the superintendent and school board had not only ignored the repeated previous pleadings of community members, but had promoted Barhin Bhatt to interim chief of the school police upon the previous chief's sudden retirement when racist and threatening comments of his became public. On September 6th, James Williams, a former Oakland Housing Authority police officer, was appointed as the new interim chief to replace Bhatt.

No Justice No BART called for an action to be held on Thursday, September 8th, at the Powell Street Station in San Francisco. The plan announced was that if enough protesters were mobilized, in order to keep riders moving into and out of the station, BART would have to open the emergency exits and let folks ride for free, just as they have for other large events in the past. On September 8th, protesters gathered at Powell station, chanting and holding signs. No fare gates were ever blocked. Within a half hour, BART riot police kettled dozens of protesters and reporters. BART police handcuffed numerous journalists, requesting that SFPD confiscate their SFPD police press passes. Two Indybay journalists were arrested, along with over 22 protesters, and charged with violating Penal Code 369i, which deals with interfering with train operations.

On August 17th, opening night of the 2011 Ringling Brothers Circus in San Jose, nearly a hundred activists gathered to protest and to inform circus-goers about the cruelty involved when wild animals are forced to live in small cages and perform for audiences across the country. Ringling Brothers has a history of maltreating the animals under its care, from physically abusing them as part of their training to failing to adequately meet basic medical needs. Animal activists encourage others to help keep the heat on Ringling to drop the use of animals in their live shows. Demonstrations are planned for Ringling Brothers appearances in San Francisco and Oakland from September 1st through 11th.