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Jose Luis Magana / AP
Police arrest Occupy DC demonstrators who blocked K Street in downtown Washington on Wednesday.The protesters converged on K Street, home to many lobbying firms, to highlight their dissatisfaction with corporate influence in politics.
Updated at 6:15 p.m. ET: A court in Massachusetts ruled on Wednesday that Occupy Boston protesters are no longer immune from eviction from a site in downtown Boston where they have been hunkered down for more than two months, the Boston Globe reports.
The Suffolk Superior Court judge denied a preliminary injunction that would have protected the protesters from no-camping rules in Dewey Square, the Globe report said. Protesters had a temporary restraining order that expired with the judge’s ruling on Wednesday.
Boston’s City Council has so far not moved to get rid of the encampment, but it may be laying legal groundwork to do so. The Council website said that the fire department had “identified some public health concerns” in the Occupy camp and issued a list of basic health and safety tips for protesters.
Police have evicted Occupy protesters from their settlements in New York, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia in recent weeks, citing health and safety concerns.
“The police commissioner is pleased with the decision and believes that it is important that the city has discretion in determining how to proceed,” Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll told the Globe.
Updated at 6:10 p.m. ET: Police arrested 62 protesters linked to the Occupy protests on Wednesday and charged nearly all of them with obstructing a public highway in the nation’s capital, a police spokesman said.
The arrests occurred in the heart of the lobbying district as part of a day of protests in Washington, DC, by the grassroots movement, according to their Twitter account and a live video stream of the actions. About a dozen protesters appeared to by lying down on the road in the area of K Street, home to many lobbying firms.
Cecilia Azurduy, 27, quit her job at a property management firm to join OccupyKSt. She told msnbc.com that the protesters were “trying to shut down the revolving door of Congress to lobbyists.”
“The lobbyists on K Street (have) been instrumental in buying out our government on behalf of the 1 percent, so we wanted to clog up their business because they’ve done a lot to mess up the livelihoods of millions of Americans,” Azurduy said.
Flanked on both sides by police officers, some mounted on horses, the protesters appeared to be underneath plastic coverings, with a few sheltering under umbrellas.
“The whole world is watching,” they chanted.
All but one of the protesters were charged with obstructing a public highway, a misdemeanor, said Hugh Carew, an officer and spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department. They were eligible for citation release, he said.
The final charge was misdemeanor assault on a police officer, said Carew, who did not have information on what led to that charge being imposed.
A horse stepped on a woman’s foot at the protest, but she declined medical treatment, he said.
Though the protesters received support online, not everyone was pleased.
"@OccupyKSt I would suggest that you actually inconvenienced working people simply trying to do their jobs and support their families," wrote a person identified as Michael Freeman.
To which, OccupyKSt replied: "We are working people trying to do our jobs and support our families too. I know traffic sucks, but oppression sucks more."
The protesters plan to continue their demonstrations into the evening with a march they will take them to Freedom Plaza, the White House, the National Mall and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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GOOD MOVE!! They are the swine that put the knife in our backs. YOU got a job today, wat about next week? Tommorow? You feel nothing coz its not YOU. It can be though..
Read this article about the Is raelization of our security techniques.
www(dot)informationclearinghouse.info/article29892.htm
"The whole world is watching"...the chant of the day.
Yup....the whole world is watching with baited breath...simply to view the splendor and accomplishment of a dozen protesters laying themselves down on a street and getting arrested for obstructing traffic and behaving like nitwits.
Edward R. Murrow must be rolling in his grave with the regret of not being able to report on such a spectacular accomplishment !
Don't sweat the Boston protesters, we have snow forecast overnight, a little freezing rain and snow, and off home they'll go!
This is long overdue. I'm glad to see my hometown finally come to its senses and rid us of these nitwits. Hopefully Providence will follow suit; the encampment there is a testament to inactivity and worthlessness at its worst.
You have the right to LAWFULLY organize and protest. You do NOT have the right to break the law while doing so. You have the CHOICE of breaking the law while you protest, and must therefore face the consequences when you do so.
All of this applies regardless of what you are protesting ... whether you are republican, democrat, tea party, an occupier, anti-abortion, pro-abortion, civil rights, gay rights, etc.
People have been organizing and protesting in this country for over 200 years. There is a way to do it, and a way not to do it.
All that being said ... good luck!
Good post, as you speak the truth. Not what these idiots want to hear though! Hehehehehe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, people have been organizing and protesting in this country for over 200 years- they went onto a ship and threw all the cargo over into the Boston harbor!!. Do you think this was breaking any laws?? Do you think those protesters would have been defying a few city ordinances? Talk about leaving trash in a public place after a protest, they would have been in trouble with the EPA, the police, the Coast Guard, . . .
During the Great Depression, neighborhood watch groups would form and surround a house that was being foreclosed on, throwing pots and pans at the police, and moving the furniture back into the house as fast as the police could remove it.
When times are desperate, people do outlandish things to get their point across and make a statement. Our country has always worked that way. Face it, we live in a wild and crazy nation. And it had better not ever be stopped, or it will be a sign we have lost our freedom and our will to go on.
Lol. That use to bo one of our rights to protest. Now when people don't like whatever a protest is about, they MAKE a new law against it. Is that breatking a law or just breaking a bunch of crybabies way of getting their way. And we call this a free country, lol. The courts need to be overhauled also. I feel we need a law that deports people that cry about our freedoms.
Why didn't anyone PROTEST the IRAQ/AFGAN US Occupation overseas? WHY? We all knew that being over there was wrong after the first few years but we AMERICANS, including me, did not do anything about it ! This occupy wallstreet over corporate greed is HORSESH@T. No one can stop one of the seven deadly sins. GO HOME PROTESTERS, while I admire your dedication, pick a "cause" that can actually be changed by a protest, not the one you've chosen. That being said, please do what you wan't, it's a free country - BUT STOP BREAKING THE LAW IN THE PROCESS !
I've been asking that same question, Scott....
Where the hell have all the war protesters been? Wheres Pink? Wheres Cindy Sheehan?
Why aren't they camped out in front of the White House or in Chicago...Obamas stomping grounds?
Just goes to show it depends who is in the White House at the moment, huh?
HYPOCRITES
Are you kidding. Obama's cheering them on as his last big hope.
This is great in the middle east but don't try it in our free America.
Filthy animals.
Out of all the OWL protests I've heard of - this is the only one that makes much sense to me. The money that goes into buying politicians these days is a cancer on democracy. And the recent SCOTUS decision on corporate contributions makes it even worse. The more that Washington DC is leveraged with money for the benefit of a few at the expense of many - the more the disenfranhised of this country will resent, protest, and probably, ultimately riot.
THIS is what ALL the OWS protests are about- money buying politicians, and thus giving unfair advantages to multi-billionaire corporations and banks. That is it in a nutshell. The country is already resentful, frightened, frustrated, and definitely beginning to rot. The occupiers keep saying, "We aren't rich enough to buy influence, we aren't close friends with any senators, so we do all we know to do- we camp." You have got to admit, it is grabbing the attention of the country, and getting a message out.
I believe the people are starting to lose interest in them. I don't understand why people think these protesters speak for the 99 %. I am not rich by any means, but they do not speak for me. If they did, they would clean up after themselves, leave the drugs home, find public restrooms, and generally behave like civilized people. The big question I would like to know is-who is funding them? George Soros maybe.
Obama justice at work. Has raised more money from Wall street than any other president in history.
You know, I just cannot for the life of me ever remember anyone ordering the eviction of a Tea Party group from any place for any reason. Other than that.............why the groups are just soooooo similar.
Here on the West Coast they have gotten bored and abandoned the parks. They are now "occupying" random empty buildings and demanding that they be converted into social centers for the homeless. Zoning laws, ownership etc. be damned. One of them decided to demonstrate his intellect by smashing a courthouse window. These are UC Santa Cruz students and local anarchists. Then they have the cajones to try to make a written legal argument as to why they have the "right" to do this. They'll get bored with this soon and go back to demanding marijuana dispensaries soon. As for UC Davis, their faculty advisor is an English professor who happily fills his students heads with nonsense and sends them out to get arrested. He doesn't have the spine to risk his job, but he'll gladly watch these brainwashed lemmings get a police record.
Now that these dimwits have caused the city to spend millions paid for by their taxes from the now famous 99, percent. How many months to prove NOTHING.
Well, considering the fact that you say "the now famous 99%" I would say the occupiers HAVE already proved something. Who ever talked about the fact that 99% of the country is living on a very small percentage of the income in the US, prior to the birth of the Occupy movement? I know for myself, that I knew something was drastically wrong in our country, but hadn't a clue where the trouble lay, until I started reading up on the phrases such as "the 99%", "end corporate personhood", "re-enact the Glass-Steagall act" "the Citizens United Supreme Court decision", etc. that I saw on OWS posters and articles. Now I am informed and know what action needs to be taken. So, I would say the occupiers have already proved a lot.
The cities would not have had to spend millions on the occupy movements if they had left them alone and let them protest. It was not the fault of the occupiers that the cities chose to pay overtime to hoards of out of town cops in full riot gear to beat peaceful protesters with batons, shoot teargas canisters, spray pepper spray, and then demolish encampments so badly that the contents had to be hauled away by the tons. The cities chose to do all that. A simple choice could have been made to quietly ignore a little city ordinance in the name of allowing free speech and assembly, which would have prevented the millions that were spent.
I guess Mama that rape death, public fornication and all the other disgraceful behavior is all right by you?
It is time for all Americans to get up and get out and stop spending money we do not have. Pay off the credit cards and save some money. Tell the Government to stop spending more money than we have. The national debt has got to be paid. Politicians stay in power when they tell us they can provide medical care and retirement to everyone. It is time to face the facts and get real.
YES WE CAN!
1776 is right around the corner...are you ready???
Ready.
i see all these occupy protest as true sign of failure of leadership of our president and our political system it should of never come to this
Losers. Get a life.
Every time I read about another Occupy group getting arrested and hauled off to jail I start to get mad at the police for being so brutal and for not refusing to follow orders telling them to pepper spray, pull hair, use tear gas, demolish books, computers, etc. I begin to feel sorry for the occupiers who have worked so hard to build up their encampments.
But then I try to tell myself that each time a group of them is arrested and knocked around needlessly, it is causing more and more people to become aware of the occupy movement itself and to learn what the issues are that Occupy groups are protesting.
So you can be sure that protesters will continue to find new and innovative ways to make an appearance, to increase awareness, and spread the word around the country that the laws governing corporate campaign contributions and lobbying must be changed, so that all the money in the US does not end up in the pockets of about 400 individuals and corporations, while our schools, our highways, our health care system, our elderly, and our children are slipping down the drain.
They have a cause they cannot explain and engage in tactics that are not effective. In addition they break laws (criminal and civil) and expect to be lauded. That's hard to swallow.
The cause of the Occupy movement has been explained many, many times, and is quite simple, although multi-faceted; corporate and big bank funding is influencing who gets elected and what decisions they make once in power. That fact has caused changes in laws over the last 20-30 years which are allowing the super-wealthy in our country to become MUCH more wealthy at a faster rate and with less work involved, while the incomes of average middle class Americans has risen little, if any. The occupy movement wants to make us aware of that and work toward changes in campaign contribution laws, lobbying laws, banking regulations, and so on, that will balance the system and prevent a complete take-over of our government by a few super wealthy individuals and corporations. Then the rest of us could start seeing some small increases in wages, there would be money for infrastructure improvements, the continuation of Social Security payments and Medicare, etc. That is it.
If the Occupiers tried to protest in a way that didn't break any city ordinances or state laws they would never have been noticed, never have been televised, never have been quoted in countless newspapers, or had their posters displayed all over the internet, because they would have had to march single file down a sidewalk only when it didn't interfere with regular sidewalk traffic, or camp out in a state park in the woods. Protesters always do something to call attention to their cause. It has always been that way. It's the people who sit in the house, watching football games and NASCAR races, not getting involved, who I find hard to swallow.
Yes. Leaving 30 tons of waste including urine-filled bottles will get you noticed in LA and other places too one might imagine. That's not the kind of notice that reflect favorably, however. And snarky references to NASCAR and football are singularly unhelpful too but do be well.
We the People have rights! this is all bull@!$%# and everyone knows it! This is America People, Not the USSR! Stop working, Stop paying taxes! The American People have done it before and it time that we do it. We all need to stand together as one or We the People will never win the War of the 99% VS the 1%. WE THE PEOPLE STAND TOGETHER AS ONE! or we will never win thw WAR!
This location is one of the places I think could use the "Occupiers", but they're going about it in the wrong way. In general I agree that the lobbyists have way more power in government than they should, and the actual people have very little. I do not agree with the whole idea of "corporate greed", though. One of these activists' pet peeves is that corporations aren't people, yet they ascribe a human emotion to a group of corporations.
Most of the people in these "Occupy" movements really have no idea what's going on, or what they're really protesting. They are just upset with the "System", and feel like annoying other people so that others know that they're upset. They don't even have a cogent idea about what they really want to change, or how, let alone how them sleeping in parks, and doing things that would get anyone else arrested, is going to effect change. In fact, they seem to be so angry when they get arrested for doing illegal things! That just gives them one more thing to be angry about. They don't know what protesting is all about.
Back in the 60s, when Martin Luther King, Jr., and others were protesting for civil rights they knew full well that if they broke the law they'd be jailed. They accepted that as a fact, and even welcomed it, because it would draw the attention of the country to what was going on. Most of them also didn't break laws that didn't have anything to do with what they were doing because that would have hurt their cause. They sat at "Whites Only" lunch counters, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, etc. They didn't camp out illegally in parks and complain when police officers arrested them for (insert Occupy stupidity here), saying that they were just trying to quell their freedom of speech.
At the Boston Tea Party (back in the day, not recent ones), the colonists threw the tea into the harbor because that was what they were protesting. England had imposed taxes on the tea, but didn't give them any voice in the decision, and then expected them to pay more than they'd already paid for tea that had been ordered. (BTW, this is why our nation mostly drinks coffee now- still protesting, legally.) The destruction of the tea was an illegal act, but it was directly related to what they were protesting.
Modern Tea Party rallies have obtained permits, paid for Port-a-Johns and trash receptacles, and even alerted police as to their intentions to "peaceably assemble". When the rallies were over they made sure that things were cleaned up. They met in places that meant something to their cause (state capitols and the like), and when their time was up, they left. No arrests, no violence, but plenty of protest. And they actually had a clear message!
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not a Tea Partier, nor an Occupier. I'm not even affiliated with any political party. I've voted for Republicans, Democrats, and even a Libertarian. I am proud to be an American, and I'm glad I have the choice to be Independant. I don't have a fancy job, I don't make a lot of money, but I'm glad I live in the greatest nation on earth where I have opportunities to make something of myself. I am a college graduate who has a crushing load of student loans, and I will probably never have a job where I can put my degree to work (B.A. English- lol), but I'm doing whatever I can to get by without whining about the 1%. I don't need, nor want, other people's money, unless they're paying me for goods or services rendered. Have I taken government assistance in the past? Yes. Didn't really enjoy it, and part of it is now crushing me (the afore-mentioned student loans), and consequently I currently receive no income tax return, and haven't for a few years. If the feds keep taking it every year until I die there will still be a huge debt load that they'll have to write off because I certainly won't have any money to leave to anyone, and I probably won't be able to afford to retire, so I won't be collecting any Social Security.
So there it is. Occupiers, wake up! You're just being used as an agenda tool. You're actually pretty much the same as the lobbyists, except your power is coming from the threat of violence instead of lining the pockets of those in the government. YOU ARE THE USEFUL IDIOTS! If you don't know the reference, look it up. I saw a post earlier that said that @OccupyKst tweeted "I am doing my job". Really? Who's paying them? I know some people in this movement are getting paid. Where's the money coming from. When the left accuses the Tea Party of being "astroturf" instead of "grass-roots" they say to follow the money. Well? Follow the money!