Occupation Portland

DHS Forces Spotted at ‘Occupy’ Crackdowns

Photos Show DHS Arresting Photographer at Portland Rally

by Jason Ditz, November 16, 2011

Antiwarcom

Questions about the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) potential involvement in the violent crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street protests nationwide continue to grow today, with new reports that not only were they sighted at several of the crackdowns but in one case photographic evidence of DHS forces arresting a photographer at a Portland rally.

The photograph apparently is authentic, as the Federal Protective Service (FPS), a wing of the DHS, issued a statement in the wake of the Portland crackdown confirming that they were “working with the Portland Police Bureau to enforce the prohibition of overnight encampments.”

That crackdown was comparatively minor compared to the increasing level of violence used in recent days, an apparent result of what Oakland Mayor Jean Quan called a “conference call” with other mayors.

There has been speculation and even one unconfirmed report that the “conference call” was organized by the DHS, as were the crackdowns in their wake. So far, however, there has been no formal confirmation that this was the case.

The FPS is supposed to be responsible for the physical security of certain federal buildings, and does so mostly with a massive team of 15,000 security contractors. They have recently hyped a program of “proactive” moves against potential future threats against facilities, which may suggest why they are being used against domestic unrest, even if on a small scale basis.


Occupy Portland protesters arrested inside Wells Fargo Bank

LA Times

November 17, 2011 |  2:38 pm

Protesters in Portland made it into a Wells Fargo Bank branch Thursday and managed to plant themselves there briefly before being hauled away by police -- the most visible incident in a noisy but largely peaceful march through the city's downtown bank district.

Two street marches in Seattle, meanwhile, were poised to get underway in the afternoon near the University of Washington to protest state budget cuts that have chiseled jobs and strangled higher education.

The mood in the Pacific Northwest -- a region with a deep tradition of street protest theater -- was raucous, celebratory and so far, except for a bit of shoving, lacking the kind of clashes with police that have erupted in recent days.

FULL COVERAGE: Occupy protests around the nation

Occupy Portland activists with drums and hand-scrawled signs paraded in tight circles outside the offices of Chase Bank, U.S. Bank and others, but many financial institutions appeared to have locked their doors and hired extra security to guard the windows.

"Due to Occupy Portland the building has been locked down until further notice," said a sign on the door of Chase Bank.

At one point, a U.S. flag was pulled down and re-raised upside down. "We shut down the banks today because they shut down our economy," a speaker at a rally at Portland's Waterfront Park said before at least several hundred marchers set off through the streets.

Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said 25 people were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct earlier in the day when they refused to move off the east end of Steel Bridge. At the Wells Fargo Bank branch, he said, several people -- TV news reports put the number at about 10 -- were taken into custody when they managed to get inside the bank.

"They sat down in some kind of protest, and refused to leave," Simpson said in an interview. He said police mainly were focusing on keeping marchers out of the street. "We're trying to contain it to the sidewalks as best we can and get people moving."

In Seattle, some confusion arose as two separate marches were planned at mid-afternoon, one commencing from the remnants of the Occupy Seattle encampment at Seattle Central Community College and moving toward the University of Washington, one originating near the university under the auspices of local labor unions and the Washington Community Action Network.

Occupy Seattle organizers said that, whatever the routes, the goal was a joint city-wide rally to highlight issues of importance to students.

In both Northwest cities, rally organizers were emphasizing the need to avoid violence and keep peace with the police. One Portland activist addressed the appeal via Twitter to the Portland Police Bureau --which regularly tweets its own news of the protests.

"Be patient," the post urged. "For no other reason than patience = overtime. Overtime = Awesome holiday shopping."

Other stories from the LA Times

San Francisco police arrest 100 in Bank of America protest

Officers end four-hour standoff after Occupy movement demonstrators, mostly UC students, take over a bank lobby in San Francisco's financial district.

Protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement seized a Bank of America branch in the city's financial district Wednesday, a demonstration that forced jittery customers and employees to flee and ended in nearly 100 arrests.

It took about 40 police officers in riot gear nearly four hours to clear the bank, but no one was injured. Police said many of those arrested were UC Santa Cruz students who were protesting fee increases and budget cuts.

For article GO HERE

Students protest at several California universities

Rallies are held at UC and Cal State campuses in shows of support for the Occupy Wall Street movement and discontent over education cuts and tuition hikes.

As Occupy Wall Street campers faced off with authorities around the nation, students on several California university campuses rallied in solidarity with the movement and to protest education cuts and rising tuition.

The largest event was at UC Berkeley, where more than 1,200 singing, sign-waving students and faculty members rallied for much of the day on Sproul Plaza, site of the 1960s Free Speech Movement. At one point, the demonstrators chanted "Hey, hey, ho, ho, police violence has got to go," a reference to an incident last week in which baton-wielding police officers stopped an Occupy camp from being set up on the campus. Dozens of protesters were arrested in last week's confrontation and several were injured.

For article GO HERE

City Hall occupation's days may be numbered

LAPD Chief Beck says police and protesters are working together on an orderly move or shutdown. Some protesters say they know nothing of talks.

With Occupy protesters cleared out of camps in Oakland, Portland and New York in recent days, the encampment of tents surrounding Los Angeles City Hall is among the biggest and last such protests still standing. But on Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said it cannot stand indefinitely.

Beck said police were working with protesters on a timeline to shut down or move the camp while avoiding the sort of confrontations seen in other cities.

But several protesters said they knew of no negotiations or timeline to end the demonstration. "I'm shocked and I'm horrified at such a comment," said protester Mario Brito, who has served as a liaison with the city. "They've never asked us to leave."

For article GO HERE