The "Occupy" movement spreads to Los Angeles, California. Starting an event near you? Reader Supported News will help you spread the word.
Los Angeles Police raid the OccupyLA protest encampment near City Hall, arresting hundreds, 11/30/11. (photo: Sterling Davis Photo/flickr)
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occupy: Los Angeles, California
Website: Occupy Los Angeles
Facebook Page: Occupy Los Angeles
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12/12 PORT SHUTDOWN: Report from Los Angeles 7:53 PDT
12 December 11
Elderly people, people in wheelchairs and children being attacked. Batons are at the ready. Protestor leaders are telling the police they are peaceful. Terminal J. Police don't look like they want to be there. Protestors being kept from the protest. Helicopters overhead. CBS NOT covering. Some trucks are coming in from another driveway. Protestors moving to block them.
More police arriving. Arrests threatened. Tune in the 90.7 for coverage.
12/12 PORT SHUTDOWN: Report from Los Angeles
12 December 11
CBS is covering and will continue to cover. In Long Beach the truck parking lot at the Goldman Sachs dock is empty. By now it is usually full. More police are massing. Updates as I get them.
Lowes is defending its decision to pull advertising from the Muslim reality show so if you were planning to shop there please think again. They are responding to pressure from right wing Christian groups who don't want to see Muslims portrayed in a favorable light.
Occupy L.A. Targets Shipping Terminal at Port of Long Beach
11 December 11
Protesters from Occupy L.A. and other groups plan to form a picket line at the Port of Long Beach on Monday to try to shut down traffic at at least one shipping terminal. Similar actions are planned at ports up and down the West Coast.
The target of the Long Beach protest is SSA Marine, a shipping company. Occupy L.A. demonstrator Michael Novick said protesters chose SSA Marine because "they embody all the ills of this economic regime we live under."
Protesters say SSA Marine has engaged in unfair labor practices and pursued objectionable environmental policies. Their other complaints include the company's role as a military contractor during the Iraq war and its connection to Goldman Sachs, an investor in SSA Marine.
New Testimonials by Occupy LA Detainees Suggest Illegal Arrests, Abuse, Even Torture by LAPD, LASD
10 December 11
Many of the individuals who were swept up by last week's LAPD raid on the Occupy LA encampment at Los Angeles City Hall were arrested even as they attempted to disperse in accordance with police directives, according to testimonials from some who were detained in the early morning hours of November 30th and held on misdemeanor charges for days after.
Their videotaped testimonials [some of which are posted below] both corroborate and reinforce the excessive force and post-arrest abuse charges detailed in our previous article on the Occupy LA raid, in which detainees charged that they were hand-cuffed behind their backs and left to languish inside L.A. County Sheriff's Department (LASD) buses for eight to nine hours without access to food, water, medicine, or toilets as they were left to urinate on themselves in their seats.
My Occupy LA Arrest
08 December 11
It was horrible to watch, and apparently designed to terrorize the rest of us. At least I was sufficiently terrorized. I unlinked my arms voluntarily and informed the LAPD officers that I would go peacefully and cooperatively. I stood as instructed, and then I had my arms wrenched behind my back, and an officer hyperextended my wrists into my inner arms. It was super violent, it hurt really really bad, and he was doing it on purpose. When I involuntarily recoiled from the pain, the LAPD officer threw me face-first to the pavement. He had my hands behind my back, so I landed right on my face. The officer dropped with his knee on my back and ground my face into the pavement. It really, really hurt and my face started bleeding and I was very scared. I begged for mercy and I promised that I was honestly not resisting and would not resist.
LA Files Criminal Charges Against Arrested Protesters
2 December 11
LOS ANGELES—LOS ANGELES (AP)—Authorities filed criminal charges against nearly 20 people following this week's police sweep of the Occupy Los Angeles encampment at City Hall Park.
Eighteen Occupy LA protesters were charged Thursday with a misdemeanor count of failure to disperse from the park, where nearly 500 tents had been erected at the peak of an anti-Wall Street protest, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said. A 19th protester was charged with battery and assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest.
Occupy LA General Assembly
1 December 11
Last night we had the first General Assembly since the eviction from Solidarity Park. More than 300 lovers showed up (200 are still in jail). Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine sang with us a Woody Guthrie song, "This Land is Your Land" and the spirits were very high; Consciousness is like a baby - the moment it is born, it cannot be pushed back into the womb. And although many still try to ignore the crying of the baby, deep inside we know it is born; it is breathing, it is learning to walk, to run, to create and to manifest its destiny. (I think Tom Morello is a great fit for Time is Now.)
Occupy LA Eviction: Is LAPD Restricting Coverage With Last-Minute 'Pool Media'?
30 November 11
Awesomely, the "pool" reports turned into a sort of crowd-sourced feed; LA Weekly reporter Gene Maddaus says he received constant email updates throughout the night from news outlets with soldiers in the pool. So it seems the chosen ones didn't adhere to the LAPD's silly, unenforceable idea of how media should work at the eviction. As it should be. However, police did manage to force out all indie reporters/photogs from the park with threats of arrest, and Dakota Smith at the LA Daily News Tweeted this morning that "LAPD didn't want us interviewing protesters.... handful times we could talk to people."
Police in LA, Philly Raid Occupy Camps
30 November 11
More than 1,400 police officers, some in riot gear, cleared the Occupy Los Angeles camp early Wednesday, driving protesters from a park around City Hall and arresting more than 200 who defied orders to leave. Similar raids in Philadelphia led to 52 arrests, but the scene in both cities was relatively peaceful.
Police in Los Angeles and Philadelphia moved in on Occupy Wall Street encampments under darkness in an effort to clear out some of the longest-lasting protest sites since crackdowns ended similar occupations across the country.
Beanbags fired from shotguns were used to subdue the final three protesters in a makeshift tree house outside Los Angeles City Hall, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said, describing it as a minor use of force incident. No serious injuries were reported.
Police Move In to Enforce Occupy LA Eviction Order
30 November 11
Police in riot gear closed in on anti-Wall Street activists in Los Angeles early on Wednesday, determined to enforce the mayor's order to evict protesters who have camped outside City Hall for the past eight weeks.
Hundreds of Occupy LA activists, joined by supporters streaming into the area in a show of solidarity, stood crowding the lawn, sidewalks and streets around City Hall as throngs of helmeted officers moved into the encampment. They were followed by a separate line of police in white biohazard suits. Live local television news footage showed police shoving one man to the ground and arresting him as he confronted a line of officers.
The Los Angeles encampment, which officials had tolerated for weeks even as other cities moved in to clear out similar compounds, is among the largest on the West Coast aligned with a 2-month-old national Occupy Wall Street movement protesting economic inequality and excesses of the US financial system.
Occupy LA Stays Put After Eviction Deadline
29 November 11
The city of Los Angeles was still "occupied" last night, as protesters defied an official deadline to clear an encampment where they have been demonstrating since October against America's widening wealth gap.
Riot police descended late on Sunday on the public space surrounding City Hall, where about 400 tents and 800 members of the so-called "99 percent" have spent the past seven weeks, but officers withdrew after six hours.
They had hoped to enforce an order by the Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, for the site to be cleared by midnight. But unlike their pepper-spraying counterparts in other US cities, they were not willing to use extreme force.
An Open Letter to Police on the Occasion of This Eviction
29 November 11
Dear Police, upon the occasion of the eviction of Occupy Philadelphia and Occupy LA:
It is not my place to say whether what you are about to do is right or wrong, and it doesn’t matter what I believe either way. You are going to evict this occupation, and all the resistance this ragtag band of sleep-deprived community organizers, volunteers, and chronically homeless could put up might, at best, delay you by a matter of hours. You, the occupiers, and we in the media: we all know these conflicts can only have one outcome.
What I am asking you to change is your demeanor. I have seen you be confrontational, frivolous, spiteful, insulting, self-righteous, and even at times, solemn.
LA Protesters Defy Eviction Efforts, Go to Court
29 November 11
Occupy Wall Street protesters who defied a deadline to remove their weeks-old encampment on the Los Angeles City Hall lawn stood their ground Tuesday as they faced uncertainty over when or if police would push them out of the park - and if an eviction could happen without the kind of violence that has engulfed the removal of protest sites in other cities.
Protesters in the nation's second largest city have turned to the federal courts to keep officers away after disobeying a city-imposed 12:01 a.m. deadline Monday to take down their camp. They argue that the City Council passed a resolution in support of the movement and that the city's mayor and police did not have the authority to evict them.
Occupy L.A. Protesters to Seek Court Order to Block Eviction
28 November 11
Protesters plan to file for a federal injunction that would prevent police from dismantling the Occupy L.A. encampment around City Hall.
The complaint, which was to be filed at 10 a.m. Monday in federal court, names the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, alleging that the protesters' civil rights were violated. The three protesters who planned to file the suit would be seeking a court order to prevent the city from evicting the camp from the City Hall lawn.
Streets Reopened After Occupy LA protest
28 November 11
Los Angeles police have reopened a downtown street where hundreds of Wall Street protesters held an early morning protest. Capt. Andy Smith says the protest was mainly peaceful but four people were arrested for failure to disperse and a few people tossed bamboo sticks and water bottles at officers. No injuries are reported.
Police are withdrawing and cars are moving as the morning commuter rush begins.
Protesters have been camping out near City Hall for nearly two months and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had given a midnight deadline for them to leave. But protesters began flooding into the streets before the deadline and some are declaring a small victory, saying they'll remain for now.
Many Vow to Stand Their Ground at LA Encampment
27 November 11
The protesters whose tents line the lawn of Los Angeles City Hall made it clear that they received the eviction notice issued by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Whether they'll heed it is much less certain.
With hours left before the Monday at 12:01 a.m. deadline the mayor and the police chief gave for Occupy LA, very few of the occupiers were packing, and many were instead were making plans for what to do when they stay.
Some handed out signs Saturday mocked up to look like the city's notices to vacate, advertising a Monday morning "eviction block party."
Villaraigosa Announces Impending Shutdown Of Occupy L.A. Camp
26 November 11
The City Hall park where Occupy Los Angeles protesters are camped will be closed at 12:01 a.m. Monday, according to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, triggering what officials hope will be an end to the nation's largest remaining Occupy camp.
But police might not immediately begin removing protesters who linger, the mayor said at a news conference Friday with Police Chief Charlie Beck. He said officials hope in the coming days to help protesters move their belongings and to find beds in homeless shelters for those at the camp who need them.
The two officials would not say whether police were prepared to use tear gas or rubber bullets to clear protesters who refuse to leave, tactics officers in other cities have turned to while clearing Occupy encampments. "The goal is to do this as peacefully as possible," Beck said.
Occupy L.A. Receives Offer to Decamp
22 November 11
Los Angeles officials have offered Occupy L.A. protesters a package of incentives that includes downtown office space and farmland in an attempt to persuade them to abandon their camp outside of City Hall, according to several demonstrators who have been in negotiations with the city.
Los Angeles Occupy Encampment Still Stands
16 November 11
Early on, the City Council of Los Angeles issued a resolution supporting the Occupiers. Several city council members, including City Council President Eric Garcetti, visited the encampment. Although there have been rumors of an ejectment of the Occupiers, so far it hasn't happened. In the eyes of many, this is a good thing.
What a difference!
6 November 11
What a difference! Last time I was impressed but this time OLA has grown exponentially. The tents were peg-to-peg. You couldn't even walk between them. Hundreds of tents. The South entrance steps are no longer a viable venue because there is nowhere to stand or sit - the teach in had to be held on a closed-off Spring Street. We were all so excited to see each other! I met Sherzhad as I was pulling into Joe's parking lot - she and a friend were bring back empty pots that had been filled with chili. Julie welcomed us at her tent and then we were off thet teach-in. We excitedly spotted each other in the crowd and managed to get close to each other to share the experience. So many friends! Every time I looked around someone else was coming to say hello, hug and be glad we were all together. I can't name everyone - there were too many. Robert Reich was his usual inspiring, intelligent self. Robert Scheer and William Black brought their sense of total outrage. All three complained that no one from Wall Street has been arrested yet. Joel Rogers from Wisconsin gave us some pointers on how to keep it going and not get pulled in the wrong direction. While the sun was high the temps were fine but as the sun started to go down and the questions for the panel continued many of us started to head home. Our intrepid film maker Ted Vaill was there for the march then until I left so we should have some good video soon. Justice trumps grass every time! Power to the people!!! The people united cannot be defeated!!
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