The aim of #OCCUPYWALLSTREET is to draw protesters to New York's financial district in a non-violent protest to spark a mass movement against corporate dominance. While the corporate media ignores the protest, Reader Supported News will continue to report on the latest developments.
A demonstrator holds a sign during an Occupy Wall Street protest in lower Manhattan. The protests moved into their third week on Monday. (photo: Reuters)
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Occupy Worldwide
22 October - 26 October 11
This page is an archive. Future OWS updates will go on the new page.
#OccupyWallStreet Protestors Can Now Occupy URLs
26 October 11
The Occupy Wall Street movement has been expansive, spreading from Lower Manhattan to the all over the world, and now its message can be vocalized on any website. According to Mashable, a program called Occupy the URL will turn an website into a protest, replete with images of Occupy Wall Street protesters popping-up. Users need only insert the URL of the website they want to occupy. READ MORE
Occupy Protests Around the World: Full List Visualised
27 October 11
The Occupy protests have spread from Wall Street to London to Bogota. See the full list - and help us add more. READ MORE
The Classroom at the End of the Occupation
A Report From the Sidelines of Oakland
26 October 11
The first tweet from the Occupy Oakland had gone out just a few minutes before three and we managed to make it to the plaza in about half an hour. When my wife Marcy and I arrived at Frank Ogawa Plaza, now redubbed, "Oscar Grant Plaza," the flimsy barricades, some consisting of milk crates, had already been installed in preparation for the police attack. The occupiers, most with bandanas or scarves covering their faces as some sort of protection or guard for anonymity, worked as if directed, though there was no one directing. It soon became clear that this was a problem. This was, in a sense, THE problem. After two weeks occupying the plaza, the "leadership" wasn't leading; the unity of cause wasn't a unity of action, and the occupation was now facing a very highly disciplined, well-armed, uniform and uniformed force, organized in a strict hierarchy to move as one body with a very specific objective. It was the Spanish Civil War in miniature and this pathetic last stand of anarchists against a professional military force would end similarly, a fact that was obvious beforehand, at least obvious to many, despite all the bravado of a group carrying black flags and hidden behind hoodies and scarves and the frankly ridiculous barricades, two-feet high in places. READ MORE
Oakland PD Fractures Skull of Marine Corps Vet Scott Olsen
26 October 11
Veterans For Peace member, Scott Olsen, a Marine Corps veteran twice deployed to Iraq, is in hospital now in stable but serious condition with a fractured skull, struck by a police projectile fired into a crowd in downtown Oakland, California in the early morning hours of today. Other people were injured in the assault and many were arrested after Oakland police in riot gear were ordered to evict people encamped in the ongoing "Occupy Oakland" movement. Olsen is also a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
VFP members are involved with dozens of these local "occupy movement" encampments and we support them fully. In Boston, for example, our members, wearing VFP shirts and carrying VFP flags, stood between a line of police and the encampment, urging police to "join the 99%" and not evict the protesters. In that case, several of our members were banged and bruised when the police decided instead to carry out their eviction orders.
In Oakland last night, a similar thing happened, according to VFP Chapter 69 member and Navy veteran, Joshua Sheperd, who said he went to downtown Oakland "to see if, as a VFP member, I could help still the anger ... to be between the police and the protesters ... it seemed unconscionable to me that the police use the cover of darkness like that to do what they were doing." Fortunately, he was not injured in the police assault that left Olsen with a fractured skull. READ MORE
FOCUS: Marc Ash | A Witness to the Violence in Oakland
26 October 11
If Gandhi was right, yesterday's Civil Resistance Action in Oakland, California, achieved all of its aims. By day's end a heavily-armed, fully-militarized police force was in control of Frank Ogawa Plaza, but Occupy Oakland was in control of the agenda.
Two major confrontations occurred between police and protesters in Oakland, both marked by non-violent restraint on the part of the protesters and a lack of restraint - each time leading to violence - by the police.
The day began with a fully-coordinated assault by riot police on Occupy Oakland's encampment in Frank Ogawa Plaza. The police have charged one protester with resisting arrest. What is not in dispute is that they used tear gas, beanbag shotgun rounds and rubber bullets. In all, 95 protesters were arrested, mostly charged with unlawful camping violations. READ MORE
Occupy Atlanta Protesters to Be Freed on Signature Bonds
26 October 11
A judge on Wednesday ruled that all 52 people arrested in the Occupy Atlanta protest could be released on signature bonds. Atlanta Municipal Judge Crystal Gaines set a March 9 arraignment hearing for the protesters, who were being returned to the Atlanta City Jail to be processed and released. Gaines said that any of the protesters who are homeless could provide an Occupy Atlanta address in signing their bonds. The protesters were arrested overnight when police cleared Woodruff Park after more than two weeks of protests. The hearings had been scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. but did not get under way until noon. READ MORE
'Occupy' Likely to be Word of the Year
26 October 11
"Occupy" is a strong contender for word of the year, says Ben Zimmer, who leads the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society, which selected "app" last year and "tweet" in 2009. Other possibilities for 2011 include "winning" (thanks, Charlie Sheen) and "downgrade" (courtesy of the US credit rating). Zimmer tells Brooke Gladstone that the word "occupy" has been around in English since the 14th century, but it was used to describe protests - by Italian factory workers - for the first time in 1920. READ MORE
Occupy Denver Says Some Protesters Suffer Hypothermia
26 October 11
As the first major snowstorm of the season hit Denver overnight, Occupy Denver protesters said several people suffering from hypothermia had to be removed from Lincoln Park. With rain falling Tuesday night and temperatures dropping into the 30s, a Denver police officer warned activists that they had to take down tents and other structures in the park because they were violating local ordinances, according to a YouTube video titled, "People will die in the cold," posted by activists. "All right, people are going to die tonight," a protester replied on the video. Another activist told the officer the tents "are not coming down." READ MORE
D.C. Douglas: 'Why #OccupyWallStreet? 4 Reasons.'
26 October 11
Actor, voiceover talent and non-political figure D.C. Douglas chimes in with his take on OWS-Occupy Wall Street.
Matt Taibbi | Wall Street Isn't Winning – It's Cheating
26 October 11
I was at an event on the Upper East Side last Friday night when I got to talking with a salesman in the media business. The subject turned to Zucotti Park and Occupy Wall Street, and he was chuckling about something he'd heard on the news.
"I hear [Occupy Wall Street] has a CFO" he said. "I think that's funny."
"Okay, I'll bite," I said. "Why is that funny?" READ MORE
Police Raid Occupy Atlanta
26 October 11
With helicopters hovering overhead, police moved into a downtown Atlanta park and arrested around 50 Occupy Wall Street protesters who had been encamped there for about two weeks early Wednesday.
Like in many other cities, protesters had been camping in Woodruff Park to rally against what they see as corporate greed and a wide range of other economic issues.
Before police moved in, protesters were warned a couple times around midnight to vacate the park or risk arrest. READ MORE
Who's Afraid of Elizabeth Warren?
25 October 11
Elizabeth Warren is running for office in the most high-profile race in the country not involving Barack Obama. It's a position that calls for some tact. So what does she think about the Occupy Wall Street protests that are roiling the country? "I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do," she says. "I support what they do."
Warren's boast isn't bluster: As a professor of commercial law at Harvard and the force behind Obama's consumer-protection bureau, Warren has been one of the most articulate voices challenging the excesses of Wall Street. Still, she enjoys an outsize celebrity for an academic and bureaucrat: a favorite guest of Jon Stewart, Warren, 62, has become a hero to the left, a villain to the right, and a fascination for everyone in between. READ MORE
Moving to Re-Occupy
5:05:pm:pdt
The crowd assembled at the Oakland Library is about to march back down 14th Street to Frank Ogawa Plaza with the intent of re-occupying the barricaded former encampment.
Update 04 From Occupy Oakland
4:45:pm:pdt
A crowd of over 2,000 has rallied at the Oakland Library in opposition to the raid on the Occupy Oakland encampment and police brutality.
They are chanting, "This will not end here."
The police are here in force, but right now powerless to act.
"Meeting at the (Oakland) library is getting big."
4:07:pm:pdt
Mayors Across US Begin Arresting OWS Protesters
25 October 11
Hundreds of arrests have already taken place, most of them coming in September when protesters blocked the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Police cleared smaller camps in San Francisco, San Diego, and Cincinnati this weekend. Chicago police arrested 130 people as they cleared Grant Park on Sunday, though protesters say they would not be deterred. "We're not going anywhere," Occupy spokesman Joshua Kaunert told the Associated Press. READ MORE
Tahrir Square Protesters Send Message of Solidarity to OWS
25 October 11
Egyptian activists who helped topple former dictator Hosni Mubarak have lent their support to the growing Occupy movement in the United States and Europe, a further sign that links between global pro-change protests appear to be growing.
A message of solidarity issued by a collective of Cairo-based campaigners declared: "We are now in many ways involved in the same struggle," adding: "What most pundits call 'The Arab Spring' has its roots in the demonstrations, riots, strikes and occupations taking place all around the world." READ MORE
Occupy Oakland "Not Finished"
25 October 11
After this morning's temporary disembowelment of Occupy Oakland by the city of Oakland, the group sent out a strongly worded message in which they claim a) "it's not finished" and b) that they will regroup this afternoon to plan their next move. At the request of city officials, police moved in on Frank Ogawa Plaza - shortsightedly renamed Oscar Grant Plaza by a few unfocused activists - between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. today to clear out the area. READ MORE
Report From Oaklander Max Allstadt
25 October 11
Lots of rumors down there. I was in the Plaza when the cops showed up, watched the entire thing, got out of the way when it got ugly, got back in afterwards to get my bike because I know enough OPD officers to find one who'd let me in.
No sound cannon. People repeatedly mistook a speaker truck for an LRAD sound cannon.
I saw one tear gas grenade go off. There were a few shots from air rifles designed to fire non-lethal ammo. That's about all I saw of weapons use. The rest was just force of numbers. At least 10 police agencies were there. Cops outnumbered protesters. And they showed up very very fast and quietly before, fully mobilized in 5 minutes, made announcements for 10 minutes, took over the whole plaza in less than 15 minutes.
I was there from 3:30 to 6am. READ MORE
Police and Protesters Massing in Oakland After Overnight Raid
25 October 11
Oakland Police wearing full riot gear are out in large numbers in downtown Oakland, as protesters rousted early this morning mount an effort to retake the encampment they were forced to leave.
The scene is tense, and marks one of the largest confrontations between police and protesters since the Occupy demonstrations first began in New York on September 17th.
There are unconfirmed reports that Oakland Police used both tear gas and rubber bullets during the early morning raid. Credible first-hand reports and video of tear gas make almost certain that at least tear gas was used. Reports of use of rubber bullets by Oakland Police on demonstrators cannot yet be confirmed.
Police Raid on Occupy Oakland
25 October 11
OWS: Washington Still Doesn't Get It
25 October 11
I'll have more coming out about this in a few days, but there have been two disgusting developments in the realm of plutocratic intervention on behalf of Wall Street that everyone protesting should take note of.
The fact that both of the following things took place in the middle of the full fever of OWS, when everyone is supposedly trying to placate anti - banker sentiment and Obama and the DCCC are supposedly pledging support of the protesters, shows how completely bankrupt this system is and how necessary street-level protests have become. Popular uprising is probably the only move left to stop developments like the following: READ MORE
Immunity and Impunity in Elite America
25 October 11
As intense protests spawned by Occupy Wall Street continue to grow, it is worth asking: Why now? The answer is not obvious. After all, severe income and wealth inequality have long plagued the United States. In fact, it could reasonably be claimed that this form of inequality is part of the design of the American founding - indeed, an integral part of it.
Income inequality has worsened over the past several years and is at its highest level since the Great Depression. This is not, however, a new trend. Income inequality has been growing at rapid rates for three decades. As journalist Tim Noah described the process: READ MORE
Wall Street Protest Plans Global Rally Before G20
25 October 11
Canada-based Adbusters wants the Occupy Wall Street protest movement against economic inequality to take to the streets to call for a 1 percent tax on such deals ahead of a November 3-4 summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in France.
"Let's send them a clear message: We want you to slow down some of that $1.3 trillion easy money that's sloshing around the global casino each day -- enough cash to fund every social program and environmental initiative in the world," the activist group said on its website, www.adbusters.org. READ MORE
OWS Puts Spotlight on Police Stop-and-Frisk Tactics
24 October 11
Stop-and-frisk refers to a common practice within the NYPD where officers detain people on the street, and, in some instances, search them. The department, along with the mayor's office, both contend that the stops have contributed to a considerable decrease in violent crime in the city, particularly in low-income communities and communities of colour.
OWS Sympathizer Creates 'I'm Getting Arrested' App
22 October 11
An Occupy Wall Street sympathizer created a free app called "I'm Getting Arrested" that lets protesters send out text messages to friends and family when cops swoop in.
Jason Van Anden, a Brooklyn software developer, said he came up with the idea when a colleague told him his girlfriend was about to get busted at a demonstration.
"He said it would be great if you had an app so that she could quickly broadcast her situation," said Van Anden, 43, a Flatbush dad. READ MORE
Cops Arrest Occupy Oakland Protesters
25 October 11
Oakland police arrested dozens of people at a plaza outside City Hall and at a second, smaller camp nearby, two weeks after the protesters launched their efforts as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement against corporate greed and economic inequality.
At about 4:57 a.m., officers began making arrests and removing tents and makeshift shelters at the Occupy Oakland protest at Frank Ogawa Plaza near 14th Street and Broadway. By 5:05 a.m., the bulk of the arrests had been completed, and arrestees were led away in plastic handcuffs. READ MORE
Sgt Shamar Thomas on Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann
24 October 11
Where Do We Go From Here? Occupy Wall St.
19 October 11
Why Not Occupy Newsrooms?
24 October 11
Almost two weeks ago, USA Today put its finger on why the Occupy Wall Street protests continued to gain traction.
"The bonus system has gone beyond a means of rewarding talent and is now Wall Street"s primary business," the newspaper editorial stated, adding: "Institutions take huge gambles because the short-term returns are a rationale for their rich payouts. But even when the consequences of their risky behavior come back to haunt them, they still pay huge bonuses." READ MORE
Occupy the Food System!
24 October 11
In the past few weeks, the U.S. Food Movement has made its presence felt in Occupy Wall Street. Voices from food justice organizations across the country are connecting the dots between hunger, diet-related diseases and the unchecked power of Wall Street investors and corporations. See Tom Philppot's excellent article in Mother Jones.
This is very fertile ground.
On one hand, the Food Movement's practical alternatives to industrial food are rooted at the base of our economic system. Its activities are key to building the alternative, localized economies being called for by Occupy Wall Street. READ MORE
'Occupy' Now a Banned Search Term in China
24 October 11
A good rule of thumb for life is that if the Chinese government is against it, you're probably doing something right. The latest evidence to support this axiom is the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread from lower Manhattan to cities around the globe, including London, Auckland, Toronto, and Rome, among many others. Terrified by OWS' viral growth, the oppressive regime controlling China is taking measures to ensure the protests don't happen there. And it's starting with the internet. READ MORE
Vatican Calls for Central World Bank, Condemns “Idolatry of the Market”
24 October 11
The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. The document from the Vatican's Justice and Peace department should please the “Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.
"Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority," was at times very specific, calling, for example, for taxation measures on financial transactions. "The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence," it said. READ MORE
The 40 Funniest Signs From Occupy Wall Street
24 October 11
From poignant to outlandish, down to chuckle-causing and headline-making, OWS protesters' cardboard declarations have captured our attention. They're making their issues and demands known through written wit, and, like any truly clever statement, are succeeding in not only causing laughter, but also some serious thought. That's right: OWS has got jokes! Jokes that have opened up an important conversation, no less. READ MORE
St Pauls Protesters Vow to Stay On
24 October 11
Anti-capitalist protesters outside St Paul's Cathedral in London vowed on Monday to stay there as long as they can despite claims that the historic church is losing £16,000 a day from closing the building to tourists.
A second site has been established on Finsbury Square in the city's financial district, but activists at St Paul's refuse to abandon their high-profile location. READ MORE
Bill Maher To Republicans: Quit Calling Occupy Wall Street Protesters 'Hippies'
24 October 11
Quit Calling Occupy Wall Street Protesters 'Hippies'
The Class War Has Begun
24 October 11
During the death throes of Herbert Hoover's presidency in June 1932, desperate bands of men traveled to Washington and set up camp within view of the Capitol. The first contingent journeyed all the way from Portland, Oregon, but others soon converged from all over - alone, in groups, with families - until their main Hooverville on the Anacostia River's fetid mudflats swelled to a population as high as 20,000.
Occupy Wall Street Camps Staring Down Eviction
22 October 11
Under normal circumstances, Rupert Murdoch doesn't have much patience for the annual shareholders' meetings that are required by law of American public companies. He regards them as a farce, because they cannot change the outcome in a company where a voting majority is secure, and as an exercise in liberal corporate law designed to put him personally on the spot.
Still, his handlers, whose job is, in part, to protect him from himself, have long made him train for these meetings as though he's going into a presidential debate. Without rigorous practice, he is quite liable to not pay attention and appear quite bewildered, or pay too much attention and explode in fury, or worse, truthful exasperation. READ MORE
Police Brutality Charges Sweep Across the US
22 October 11
Officer Michael Daragjati had no idea that the FBI was listening to his phone calls. Otherwise he would probably not have described his arrest and detention of an innocent black New Yorker in the manner he did.
Daragjati boasted to a woman friend that, while on patrol in Staten Island, he had "fried another nigger". It was "no big deal", he added. The FBI, which had been investigating another matter, then tried to work out what had happened. READ MORE
The Obligation to Peacefully Disrupt
22 October 11
Mayor Bloomberg is planning Draconian new measures to crack down on what he calls the "disruption" caused by the protesters at Zuccotti Park, and he is citing neighbors' complaints about noise and mess. This set of talking points, and this strategy, is being geared up as well by administrations of municipalities around the nation in response to the endurance and growing influence of the Occupation protest sites. But the idea that any administration has the unmediated option of "striking a balance," in Bloomberg's words, that it likes, and closing down peaceful and lawful disruption of business as usual as it sees fit is a grave misunderstanding - or, more likely, deliberate misrepresentation - of our legal social contract as American citizens. READ MORE
Police Arrest 130 at Occupy Chicago
22 October 11
Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, prompting 130 arrests early Sunday, authorities said.
Occupy Chicago spokesman Joshua Kaunert vowed after the arrests that protests would continue in the Midwest city. "We're not going anywhere. There are still plenty of us," Kaunert told The Associated Press after the arrests, which took police more than an hour to complete.
Elsewhere in the nation, police reported 11 arrests overnight in the Occupy Cincinnati protests. Police said those arrested had stayed in that city's Fountain Square after Sunday's 3 a.m. closing time and each was charged with criminal trespass. READ MORE
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