kwikset:

(photo: NBCphilly)

“It was a busy Saturday for Occupy Philly. Members met at the Thomas Paine Plaza at 9 a.m. and were then shuttled to 27th and Sterner Streets to partake in a cleanup project.

The group also held a launch party at noon at Thomas Paine for “a day of celebration as we launch the newly formed ‘Free Speech Demonstration Space’ at Thomas Paine Plaza.”

Finally, at 2 p.m., group members marched from 15th and Market to Independence Hall.

The group vowed to continue their movement against corporate greed and economic inequality despite the demise of their tent city at City Hall, and they challenged the city’s assessment that their eviction occurred in a peaceful and orderly fashion.
 
Police raided the group’s nearly 2-month-old tent city early Wednesday, and 52 people were arrested in the aftermath of the raid, as dozens of protesters began roving through downtown. Mayor Michael Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey have praised the officers involved for avoiding major problems like those that have come in other cities, saying they showed a tremendous amount of restraint and professionalism.
 
City officials also announced Friday that the protests had cost the city a little more than $1 million, about 90 percent of that in police overtime.

Gwen Snyder, one of the group’s leaders, said some members will lobby to reform in Washington, D.C., next week. However, they have not decided whether to apply for another permit in Philadelphia.
 
“We are still strong, stronger than ever and galvanized by the events of the eviction,” she said. “Eviction is not an ending. It is an escalation.”~Read More: NBCPhilly

@Occupyphilly: https://twitter.com/#!/OccupyPhilly
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OccupyPhiladelphia

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

The National Lawyers Guild is calling for nearly 300 Occupy L.A. protesters arrested early Wednesday to be released from jail.  

The majority of the 292 protesters were taken into custody for failing leave a City Hall park after police issued a dispersal order early Wednesday, city officials said. A smaller number also were cited for resisting arrest.

All are being held on a minimum $5,000 bail until they are arraigned by a judge — a process that can take up to two days.  

Attorney Carol Sobel of the lawyers guild said protesters should be released with notices to appear before court and not be punished “for exercising their 1st Amendment rights.”

She said she several attorneys said they had not been able to visit their clients behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center because the jail was closed because of staffing problems and the large influx of inmates.  

Sobel rebuked city officials for being too focused on its plan of moving in on protesters and — neglecting to plan for what came next.  

“They had this elaborate plan,” she said. “But they didn’t have a plan for arresting them.”  

The city attorney’s office has not yet been asked to file charges by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to Chief Deputy City Atty. William Carter. But Carter said that will probaly happen soon.   

Carter said the city probably would press charges in many of the cases, but noted: “We will review each case individually.”  

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

When NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly stopped by Columbia to answer questions for a class taught by former New York Mayor David Dinkins, an Occupy Wall Street sympathizer whipped out a projector and started displaying images of police brutality.