Dozens of demonstrators calling for an end to war rushed into President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago on Monday morning, and eight were arrested, NBCChicago reported.

The protest, led by a group associated with the Catholic Worker movement, was the first of a series of planned demonstrations and marches by groups highlighting poverty, environmental, and education issues during the May 20-21 NATO summit in the city and the May 18-19 G8 summit at Camp David in Maryland.

"We are here today to boldly proclaim our desire to live in a world where we say no to NATO and yes to community," said Chantal de Alacuaz from Chicago in a release by the Chicago-based White Rose Catholic Worker posted late Sunday night. "As Catholic Workers, we serve the poor by practicing the works of mercy — feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, taking care of the sick and the works of war are directly opposed to that."

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The plan, according to the release was to “invite Obama and other NATO leaders to break bread over a symbolic meal to discuss how to transform NATO from an instrument of war and empire into an instrument of peace and love that embodies the biblical works of mercy instead of the works of war.”

About 100 people took part in the demonstration, according to the Chicago Tribune.  As eight protesters were led out of the building in handcuffs, other demonstrators danced and sang folk songs and gospel, and handed rolls to commuters, it said.

"We see NATO as using up a lot of resources in the city and the world," said Jesica Arents, a member of the group speaking to the paper.

She said some of the demonstrators had come from across the Midwest and would be joining NATO protests throughout the week, the Tribune reported. The group was committed to remaining non-violent, she said.

Those arrested were charged with criminal trespass, according to NBCChicago.com.

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A woman engaged in a bitter battle with Wells Fargo over foreclosure of her southern California home was arrested late Thursday at the tony residence of the bank's CFO in San Marino, where she and dozens of supporters were protesting.

Ana Casas Wilson, 49, who lives in the working-class neighborhood of South Gate, faces eviction from her childhood home. Like many people who have been through foreclosure, she says that the bank wrongly denied her a loan modification and moved to foreclose even when she was able to catch up.

In an action that is becoming increasingly common, Wilson has taken her complaint public and her protest directly to bank officials. In Thursday’s protest, with at least 80 supporters, she attempted to deliver her mortgage payment directly to Tim Sloan, the top financial officer for Wells Fargo. In addition to protesting the foreclosure, the group was challenging an ordinance created last year making it harder to picket in this wealthy enclave.

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"People are deciding to take this stand that was previously a little unthinkable," said Peter Kuhns, with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, which helped organize this and other "home defense" actions. "They are risking arrest, refusing to leave, getting their families involved and putting themselves out there."

Many people are shedding the sense of shame of foreclosure, which kept most people silent in the past, even if they didn’t think they had done anything wrong, he said.

"More and more people are standing up and willing to go public because there is no other remedy and putting public pressure on the bank," said Kuhns.

Wells Fargo did not respond directly to Wilson's situation, but provided a statement in response to queries about her.

"Wells Fargo works very hard to keep customers in their homes whenever possible," said the statement, sent by Jennifer Langan in corporate communications. "We review our customers for a variety of modification options, from HAMP, HARP, HAFA and through our own proprietary programs. Despite these efforts, if a customer is 16 or more months delinquent, it can be extremely difficult to recover." 

Some homeowners who have taken this high-profile approach in their fight against foreclosure, enlisting the support of protesters from the Occupy movement and housing activists, are finding success at it.

Occupy movement targets Wells Fargo shareholder meeting

The case of Rose Gudiel, reported by msnbc.com last year, is one example. In October, Gudiel was hunkered down in her home, surrounded by supporters, awaiting eviction. But at the eleventh hour, lender Fanny Mae canceled the eviction notice and offered her a loan modification, enabling her to keep the home.

Many similar foreclosure battles are under way nationwide, with support from a movement called Occupy our Homes.

Wilson, who has cerebral palsy, lives with her husband, who works as a school janitor, her teen son and her mother, who helps care for her. She has worked as a court reporter, and as an advocate for the disabled.

The trouble covering the mortgage started when she was treated for breast cancer in 2009, and her husband’s income declined as a result of cutting hours to help take care of her. They got behind, but their income stabilized several months later. By then, the bank had moved into foreclosure proceedings and would not accept her payments or discuss ways to catch up, Kuhns said.

The implication in Wells Fargo's statement that Wilson was 16 months behind is misleading, says Kuhns, because for most of that time, the bank refused to take her payments.

Thursday’s protest was on Wilson’s behalf, and it was more generally challenging a San Marino ordinance adopted last November – just a few weeks after a protest of predatory lending practices on Sloan’s front lawn. That demonstration, involving about 100 protesters, was peaceful and ended without incident, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Under the statute, picketers must keep 150 feet from a target residence, or 75 feet from the curb adjacent to the home, whichever is farther.

"The purpose of the ordinance is not to reduce picketing, but to protect the people who are the victims of picketing," police Chief John Schaefer told the Times when it was passed. "We're a prime target. We have a lot of people who fit the profile to be the victim of this type of crime."

Video from the protest posted by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune shows protesters carrying signs and chanting "Wells Fargo, shame on you!" in the street in front of the home.

Wilson is shown crossing a police cordon in her wheelchair to deliver a check to Sloan. She knocks several times, but gets no answer.

"He's embarrassed," Wilson tells the Tribune. "That's why he won't come out. ... He knows that what they are doing is wrong."

Wilson was arrested under the anti-picketing statute, after protesters and police faced off for about two hours. She was released about an hour later and is expected to appear in court in early June.

"The leaders of Wells Fargo and the members of their family should be afforded the right to feel safe in their private residence and we encourage all organizations choosing to demonstrate at private residences to abide by the law for the safety of the general public," the Wells Fargo statement said.

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Several dozen protesters who gained access to the annual shareholder meeting of General Electric in Detroit disrupted the start with chanting Wednesday morning before being removed by security. Meanwhile, hundreds more protesters gathered outside.

The protest — coming a day after a similar one at Wells Fargo's shareholder meeting in San Francisco — illustrated one of the new strategies taken by the Occupy movement and its offshoots. The Occupy movement, which set up large encampments in public spaces in cities around the country in 2011, was largely forced to leave those sites in the fall and winter. Many of the same activists are taking part in other types of civil disobedience and protests against what they consider corporate greed, money-driven politics and social inequity.

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The protesters in Detroit began shouting "pay your fair share" just after GE CEO Jeff Immelt began speaking, reported NBC affiliate WDIV in Detroit.

The chant refers to the belief that unfair tax breaks had allowed GE to avoid paying the government billions of dollars.

A 2011 report by Citizens for Tax Justice, a left-leaning think tank, maintains that GE had an effective negative tax rate from 2008 through 2010, which the company has repeatedly denied.

After the protesters were removed, Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin defended GE's tax practices, Reuters reported.

"We absolutely are compliant with every law around the world in how we pay our taxes," Sherin said, according to the Reuters report. "Our U.S. tax expense last year was $2.6 billion. We are a large taxpayer, we pay our taxes and we very much support tax reform."

Immelt resumed his address with these words, according to the Detroit Free Press:

"We're happy we brought jobs here.... we are proud to be in Detroit this morning," he said. A spokesman for GE told the Free Press that the protesters must have been shareholders or they would not have been able to pass through security checks to enter the meeting.

Reports varied on the number of protesters in the meeting. Reuters reported there were nearly 100 who gained entrance while others put the number at 50 or fewer.

One activist who said she gained entrance to the shareholder meeting by buying one share of GE stock was Shyquetta McElroy, who drove six hours to Detroit with nine other protesters from Milwaukee.

McElroy said she was not connected to any organization, and did not take part in the Occupy movement but told msnbc.com she was part of the "99 percent."

"Basically (we are) citizens who are mistreated by corporations, by which I mean corporations moving jobs overseas, not paying taxes ...  just so they can get richer." She said such practices were partly to blame for painful cuts in programs from schools to health care.

At a similar protest of the Wells Fargo shareholder meeting on Tuesday, dozens of activists gained access to the meeting by purchasing one share each. About a dozen who protested inside that meeting were removed, and six protesters in the crowd outside were arrested.

Around the country, similar protests are planned to target major banks and other companies, an idea that has been under discussion for months among Occupy movement activists.

"Clearly this is a major project," said Todd Gitlin, professor of sociology and journalism at Columbia University. Gitlin has written a soon-to-be published book about the Occupy Movement and says the idea of protest inside shareholder meetings has been envisioned for months within that movement. "This is one direction for the occupy movement."

Occupy groups have also combined forces with housing advocates and others to prevent foreclosures and agitate for banks to change lending and foreclosure policies.

A new group called 99% Power, which describes itself as a "coalition of workers and retirees, families fighting foreclosure and the unemployed, students, immigrants and environmentalists," said on its web site that it plans actions at dozens more shareholder meetings in the coming weeks. Other companies on their list include Verizon, Bank of America, Sallie Mae and Wal-Mart.

The organization casts itself as representing the interests of the vast majority of Americans, versus the wealthiest 1 percent.

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Several hundred protesters marched to the Wells Fargo Bank headquarters Tuesday in San Francisco and about 30 managed to gain access to the company's annual shareholder meeting and disrupt proceedings, San Francisco Gate reported. About a dozen were escorted out of the 15th floor meeting by police.

Police in riot gear arrested six people involved in the protest, which focused anger on foreclosures, high executive compensation and low corporate taxes, Reuters reported.

Demonstrators carried a huge inflated rat with dollar bills coming from side pockets, and held signs that read: "99 percent take over, topple the 1 percent" — referring to the majority of the U.S. population and the 1 percent who make up the wealthiest Americans.

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The demonstration is part of an attempt to revive the Occupy movement — though most protesters are no longer focused on occupation of public sites after being evicted from many encampments in the fall and winter.

The movement has been broadly focused on economic inequity, corporate greed and money-driven politics, and it plans more protests in the coming weeks, including against other large companies and the nation's massive student debt.

"A tax dodger and predatory lender, Wells Fargo Bank has corrupted democracy by quadrupling spending on lobbying since they helped cause the financial crisis," according to the web site for Occupy Wall Street, which advertised the event.

Police were stationed around the Merchant’s Exchange Building in the financial district in advance of the 1 p.m. meeting. Bank stockholders were asked to show certificates or other proof of ownership before being shepherded through the gates, The Associated Press reported.

Activists said that 30 shareholders who are protesters had entered the session, and intended to ask bank leaders for policy changes, including halting foreclosure proceedings against homeowners, San Francisco Gate reported.

The Occupy Wall Street web site lays out complaints against Wells Fargo, calling it "America’s biggest tax dodger" and blasting its continued foreclosures "on families in an economy it helped to ruin."

The Occupy movement has staged numerous past protests against Wells Fargo. In February protesters delivered a mock foreclosure notice to the Russian Hill home of Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf. In Minneapolis in November, they turned up to protest Stumpf when he was scheduled for a speaking event.  

Stumpf told the crowd in the Minnesota city that he "gets" the frustration of the anti-Wall Street movement, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and called for unity of the nation's political parties, as well as "the 1 percent and the 99 percent," to get through economic hard times.

Wells Fargo did not immediately return calls from msnbc.com seeking comment.

However, the company issued a statement in reaction to the protest, NBC Bay Area reported:

"Wells Fargo has helped more than 740,000 customers with loan modifications, and has forgiven $4.1 billion in principal since 2009," it said. "The unfortunate reality is that some customers are in homes they cannot afford, even with substantially reduced payments. ... When people are 60 days or longer past due, and they decide to work with us, we are able to provide an option that prevents foreclosure for 7 out of 10. Over the past year, less than 2 percent of owner-occupied loans in our servicing portfolio have resulted in foreclosures."

According to the bank's web site, Wells Fargo ranked fourth-largest among U.S. banks in terms of assets — $1.3 trillion — and first in market value of its stock as of Dec. 31.

Around the country, similar protests are planned to target major banks and other companies.

A group called 99% Power, an offshoot of the Occupy movement, said it plans actions at dozens of shareholder meetings, starting with Wells Fargo, and then on Wednesday at General Electric Co.s shareholder meeting in Detroit.

On campuses, activists are launching an "Occupy Student Debt" campaign, described as "a collective strategy of non-violent direct action to take back higher education and end our complicity with a predatory and unjust system."  

Occupy groups across the country also plan events for what they call an Occupy General Strike Day on May 1 to demand economic justice, during which they advocate "no work, no school, no housework, don't bank, don't buy."

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NEW YORK -- Police arrested dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters on Saturday night during a protest marking the movement's six-month mark at its birthplace in New York's Zuccotti Park.

More than 100 officers pushed through the park crowd. Many protesters shouted and officers took out their batons after a demonstrator threw a glass bottle at a bus that police were using to detain more than a dozen protesters.

At least two people were loaded into ambulances.

The sweep just before midnight capped a day of demonstrations and marching in lower Manhattan. There was no official word on the number of arrests but dozens of people were handcuffed and led out of the park.

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Earlier in the day, 15 people were arrested and three officers suffered injuries, police said.

Protesters reconvened at the park following afternoon marches through New York's financial district. By 11 p.m. roughly 300 had gathered there.

"This is our spring offensive," said Michael Premo, 30, of New York, who identified himself as a spokesman for the movement. "People think the Occupy movement has gone away. It's important for people to see we're back."

Inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring, the Wall Street protesters targeted U.S. financial policies they blamed for the yawning income gap between rich and poor in the country, between what they called the 1 percent and the 99 percent. The demonstrators set up camp in Zuccotti Park on September 17 and sparked a wave of protests across the United States.

Shortly after 11:30 p.m., some protesters began to erect tents near the center of the park and police began to move in, according to protester Cari Machet.

"They came in to shut it down," Machet said. "They told us we had to leave because the park was closed."

When about 100 officers entered the park, dozens of protesters sat on the ground and refused orders to leave. They were then carried out in plastic handcuffs and put in police buses and vans.

The park was cleared within 20 minutes, and by midnight no protesters remained in its boundaries.

The New York Times reported that by 12:20 a.m. Sunday, police officers were forcing the remaining protesters south on Broadway, at times swinging batons and shoving people to the ground.

Events got under way near midday on Saturday, with street theater troupes performing and guitar players leading sing-alongs. Some boisterous protesters marched through the streets of the financial district, chanting "bankers are gangsters" and cursing at police.

As they have in past marches, protesters led police on a series of cat-and-mouse chases. Marchers at the front of the crowd would suddenly turn down narrow side streets, startling tourists and forcing police to send officers on motor scooters to contain the crowd.

The movement has made headlines for its clashes with police after campsites were set up for months in cities from New York to California. The camps were eventually shut down by authorities citing zoning regulations and public health concerns.

In New York, the Occupy movement lost significant momentum in November when a pre-dawn sweep broke up the encampment at Zuccotti, although Occupy protests in Oakland, California, in January led to police firing tear gas into crowds of protesters and more than 200 were arrested.

Protester Paul Sylvester, 24, of Massachusetts said he was "thrilled" to be back at the park but said he hoped the movement would begin to crystallize around specific goals.

"We need to be more concrete and specific," he said. Critics say the Occupy movement lacks direction and clear demands.

It continues to draw celebrities, however. On Saturday night, independent filmmaker Michael Moore strode through the park before the police incursion.

"I think it's great that this movement continues to grow," Moore said. "I think the goals are clear. People are concerned that they have no control over their own democracy. They have no control over their own lives.

"This is the beginning. This park is sacred ground for millions across the country."

This article contains reporting from The Associated Press and Reuters.

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Legislation passed by Tennessee lawmakers, apparently aimed at shutting the Occupy Nashville camp, could have a chilling effect on free speech and perhaps even criminalize the homeless, housing and civil liberties activists say.

The state's House of Representatives on Monday approved the Senate version of a bill -- the "Equal Access to Public Property Act of 2012" -- which prohibits unauthorized camping -- including sleeping and storing of personal belongings -- on public grounds, and the governor says he will sign it. Violators would face up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and/or a fine of $2,500.

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The measure follows an unsuccessful attempt by the state to evict the Occupy protesters from Nashville’s Legislative Plaza in October.

“It chills the spirit of freedom of speech and assembly by targeting a particular form of expression,” said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. “When you recognize that the Occupy folks were choosing to camp and put up tents as the very means by which they were expressing their frustration with the government -- to have that then be identified as criminal, challenges their right to political speech.”

The legislation does not specifically refer to the plaza where Occupy protesters have gathered, instead describing public property in one section as "a state park, recreation area, wildlife refuge, historic building, educational institution or natural green space." It notes the legislation is "specifically intended to protect state interests jeopardized by the activity of camping on state property that is not compatible to or designated for such activity."

The broad language poses a major problem for the homeless, said Charles Strobel, founding director of Room in the Inn and its Campus for Human Development, a religious nonprofit that provides services to the homeless in central Tennessee.

“I think it’s what they might refer to as unintended consequences,” he said. "… It’s criminalizing the right to exist as a human being. It’s outlawing homelessness."

Strobel, who has worked with the homeless community for 34 years, described the legislation as "cruel and mean.” He said it will join a number of measures, such as "quality of life" offenses, that the homeless already have to contend with.

"So this is just one of a number of situations that you’re constantly facing with the homeless, that they are being shuffled around and, of course, in this case, they just have to keep walking … God forbid that they stop and rest," he said late Tuesday.

Related story: Tale of a Southern 'Occupy': Nashville aims to bridge political divides

Some homeless had sheltered at Legislative Plaza before the Occupy protesters arrived, since there were only about 1,500 beds available to the city’s estimated more than 4,000 people who need them, Strobel said.

As many as 50 homeless people lived in the Occupy camp at the height of the protest, but that number has dropped to about 10, said Lindsey Krinks, a 27-year-old student at Vanderbilt Divinity School and a homeless advocate who is also an Occupy member.

“A lot of people have cleared off the plaza because they’re so concerned about getting jail time and fines that they can’t pay and having all of their belongings confiscated ... which is really problematic when you are looking at people who have so little to begin with," she said. 

Among those is Nathan Rice, 32, who said he has lived on the streets since 13 and recycles cans for money. He arrived at the Occupy camp in mid-November and said he is "pretty much committed" to the movement.

“It was just a safe place to sleep and people treated me fairly nice,” Rice said of the Occupy camp. "They didn’t look at you as just homeless ... they looked at us as equals.”

One of the legislation's sponsors, Republican Rep. Eric Watson, said in an email that the legislation “does nothing to impact the homeless population” and did not elaborate. He directed msnbc.com to the text of the legislation regarding questions about the bill's intent. 

The other sponsor, Republican Sen. Dolores R. Gresham, did not respond to an email and phone calls from msnbc.com seeking comment by early Wednesday afternoon.

But in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, she said the purpose was to make the grounds around the Capitol available to all visitors.

"Certainly that was never the intent that the homeless would be in any way impacted by this bill," the Somerville Republican said.

Health concerns and preservation of state resources are cited in the bill among the reasons to impose the changes.

"It is in the state’s interests to be a good steward of public land and manage and protect it in such a manner as to ensure that future generations of Tennesseans are able to continue to enjoy the natural treasures and rich beauty of this state," the bill said.

While many other Occupy camps have been shuttered across the country using similar regulations since Occupy Wall Street began in September, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Winmill in Idaho issued a temporary order on Monday allowing Occupy protesters in Boise to keep their tents.

The judge wrote that the camp was in a public place that is "highly visible and physically close to the seat of government, making it a natural forum for political protests." He has not allowed sleeping but said an argument could be made for it as a protected freedom of expression, according to KBOI2.com.

The order was issued in response to a new law signed last week by Idaho's governor intended to remove the protesters from the property surrounding a vacant courthouse where they've camped out since early November, The Associated Press reported.

Criminalization of the homeless in jurisdictions around the country “has become progressively worse over the last couple of years,” said Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

“A number of communities are passing ordinances like this to push back against the Occupy movement and when you look at communities, some do it more artfully than others, and this is certainly not in that camp,” he said. “It’s quite apparent that they are constructing this to limit … very distinct behavior and actions.”

Donovan said it was a “flagrant targeting” of a group of individuals and said he thought it was unlikely to stand up in court. When asked how the legislation compared to others on the books, he said it was among "those ordinances that violate people's rights" and was "part of a collective movement" to restrict the rights of those who engage in "reasonable activities."

“Anytime that a state engages in this type of behavior it opens the door and creates a path for other ordinances and other laws that will affect the homeless so we would strongly object to this” kind of legislation, he added.

A separate process is also under way in Tennessee to write new procedures for the use of the plaza amid an ongoing federal lawsuit, filed by the local ACLU, which alleges that the state illegally revised the rules controlling the site last October when it tried to evict the Occupy protesters.

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Occupy protesters have taken a wide array of approaches to further their power-to-the-people message — kumbaya-style public sit-ins, noisy protests at banks that are blamed for terrible economic conditions, and occasionally vandalism as witnessed in Oakland this weekend — either a tactic or an outcome, depending on your source.

But here’s a new one: In Seattle, Babylonia Aivaz — surrounded by loving friends and lavishly outfitted activists — married a building, in a ceremony Sunday that was documented by the Seattle PI.

"When I look at this building I see a community center, I see a community art space, I see a homeless shelter, I see free childcare, I don't see a building, I see a space that can address all the needs of our neighborhood,” Aivaz told KING 5 television.

In order to seal her commitment to the 107-year-old warehouse building — and protest the sweeping gentrification in the city—she donned white, declared her love, and uttered “I do.” A sign on the building, also promised “I DO,” at least until death do them apart — most likely this week, when the building is slated to be demolished to make way for a new apartment complex.

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The action took on several issues at once. Aivaz was drawing attention to the building in Seattle’s Capitol Hill, which activists wanted to use as a community space. She argued that if a corporation could have personhood — then a building has enough “personhood” to get married. She also declared the building a woman, thus putting in a plug for gay marriage.

The crowd that gathered for the union of building and woman was largely festive, featuring bubbles, music and a vegan potluck, according to local coverage, but some bystanders objected to activists calling it a gay marriage, especially at a moment when the issue of same-sex marriage is under serious discussion in the state of Washington.

Johnny McCollum-Blair attended to protest the protest, told KOMO TV that calling the union a “gay marriage” was “irresponsible” because it could give ammunition to the Christian Right and politicians.

It “gives them a chance to say, ‘See, we told you — they’re going to want to marry everything if we give them the opportunity’,” he said, carrying a sign that read “Marriage is between 2 people.”

“It was definitely… thought provoking. Maybe it was too thought provoking,” said Joshua Farris, an Occupy Seattle activist who was familiar with the action. “This is our challenge every day. We need to think of ways to provoke people’s imaginations. At the same time has to be a message they can wrap their head around.”

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Federal park authorities in the nation's capital told Occupy protesters at two sites on Friday that they will begin enforcing park rules that prohibit camping -- a move seen by the activists as a "slow creep" aimed at whittling down their demonstration in Washington, DC.

The National Park Service said in a flier that starting Monday at noon it will begin to enforce regulations prohibiting camping and the use of temporary structures for camping. Individual violators may be subject to arrest and their property subject to seizure as evidence, the flier said.

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Three officers will be on hand to monitor the situation, try to get protesters to comply and make arrests or seizures as needed, Carol Johnson, a NPS spokeswoman, told msnbc.com. Compliance entails removing all camping materials and leaving one side of all temporary structures open.

“People can be there 24 hours a day, but they can’t live there, they can’t sleep there,” Johnson said. “This has been something in the works for some time. I mean what we’ve been trying to do is use measured and progressive means to get people into compliance.”

“We still do back the First Amendment, and it is their right. It is not their right to camp. And ... we would, you know, support them if they came into compliance and they had a vigil and they had tents that were there for logistical or symbolic purposes,” she added. "They can occupy as a vigil but not camping."

More than 80 arrests have occurred at the two sites, including for public urination, drunkenness, assault and drug use, she noted.

Many of the Occupy camps were closed across the country last fall and early winter, and the sites in the nation's capital were two of the bigger outfits remaining. Occupy Wall Street, which was evicted in mid-November, holds its general assemblies in their former camp site, while other group meetings are held elsewhere.

Justin Jacoby Smith, a 25-year-old activist with OccupyKSt, said that the protesters were conducting a 24-hour vigil in line with the NPS use guidelines for the site and that he thought people were "incorrectly" reading the NPS moves as an eviction notice.

"I don’t think that’s what we’re dealing with here. I think what we’re seeing from the park police is a sort of very slow creep of their enforcement of this so-called no-camping rule," he said, adding that he thought the enforcement was also “just another part of that broader strategy of trying to whittle down the (protester) numbers slowly.”

The Park Service noted that two "compliant" 24-hour First Amendment vigils have been running in Lafayette Park and near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial since the early 1980s. Johnson said they were "very small" vigils.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee held a hearing on Tuesday about the McPherson Square encampment.

"Late is better than never," Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the subcommittee on the District of Columbia, said in a statement after learning of the park service notice. "Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason: so as not to see who is in front of her. I continue to wonder whether others who are 'camping' in national parks would have been afforded a 100-day grace period before the law was enforced."

 

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Protesters stormed onto the steps of the Supreme Court to decry corporate personhood, left handwritten messages on cards on a White House fence for the president and met with their lawmakers -- wrapping up a day of action primarily focused on American's disillusion with the legislative branch.

On the West Lawn in front of Congress on Tuesday, they held group talks on national protest planning and networking among Occupy outfits, a general assembly, and the Occupy Wall Street Think Tank led a discussion on the question, "What does democracy look like?"

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The numbers were lower than the expected thousands, but more people streamed in toward day's end, when a march -- accompanied by chanting of slogans and the beating of drums and shaking of tambourines -- left from the Capitol for the high court and the White House, spinning through the D.C. streets with police clearing the way for what appeared to be between 1,000 and 2,000 demonstrators.

• Apparent smoke bomb tossed at White House

One of the disappointing aspects was the limited presence of congressional representatives, said Mario Lozada, a 25-year-old immigration lawyer from Philadelphia. 

"We came here really for that dialogue ... to speak with our representatives, to make our presence known," he said. "We all have that same sentiment that our elected officials are not representing us" and that it was a corrupt system with corporate money "drowning out our voices."

The rain and timing on a work day may have affected turnout, but they were still pleased with the numbers, he added.

Christopher Seerden, 30, who traveled by train from Santa Cruz and wore a tent in solidarity with Occupy Melbourne, said he was there to let the government know that they were done with corporate greed.

"My family lost their dream home due to the banks screwing them over. So I'm here helping my family in solidarity," he said, as protesters chanted, "Whose streets, our streets." "I wish there were a million people here but this'll work ... I think it's still a good message to bring out on the first day of Congress in session."

PhotoBlog, December 6: Demonstrators from 46 states 'Take Back the Capitol'

The protesters then surged onto the court steps, filling them, waving flags and signs, chanting, "'the people united will never be defeated," and "money is not speech" in reference to the landmark Supreme Court decision affirming corporate personhood and money as speech, known as Citizens United, and which marks its second anniversary on Saturday.

As they cascaded down Constitution Avenue, protesters cheered as they passed by a building bearing large text of the first amendment, with some stopping to read it out loud. Reflecting on her time in D.C., Kelsey James, an 18-year-old protester from Reno, said it had been an intense experience. 

"I've been moved deeply by seeing everybody unite and I thought that coming to our nation's capital to speak was very important," said James, noting that she had a positive experience with a Florida lawmaker she met Tuesday who had encouraged her to participate in the political process. 

Near the end of the route was the White House, where protesters crafted messages for Obama on multi-colored heart-shaped cards and attached them to the fence with string. Other protesters formed a circle and meditated, while yet others chanted, "N-D-A-A, we say no way," referring to the controversial legislation that allows for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens accused of being terrorists.

Preparing for the six-hour bus trip back to Greensboro, N.C., 65-year-old Cynthia Maddox, an accountant for small business who handles income taxes, said the day had given her hope.

"It's just that there's this whole generation that's come up and taken things into their own hands," she said, as protesters chanted, "We want progress, Occupy Congress."

 

Read previous posts on the protest:

Occupy protesters bring their discontent to Congress

Occupy Congress: Could it be politics as unusual?

 

Sergio Ballesteros, 30, has been involved in Occupy LA since the movement had its California launch in October. But this week, his activism took an abrupt turn when he was arrested on a felony charge — lynching.

Under the California penal code, lynching is “taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer," where "riot" is defined as two or more people threatening violence or disturbing the peace. The original purpose of the legal code section 405(a) was to protect defendants in police custody from vigilante mobs — especially black defendants from racist groups.

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 Whether the police allegation in this case will be pursued by by California’s courts is uncertain. But the felony charge — which carries a potential four-year prison sentence — is the kind of accusation that can change the landscape for would-be demonstrators.

• Occupy protesters bring their discontent to Congress

"Felonies really heighten the stakes for the protesters," said Baher Azmy, legal director at Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. "I think in situations where there are mass demonstrations and a confrontation between protesters and police, one always has to be on the lookout for exaggerated interpretations of legal rules that attempt to punish or squelch the protesters."

• Apparent smoke bomb tossed at White House

Ballesteros, a teacher-turned-social-activist, was one of two people arrested during an "art walk" in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday. He and other Occupy LA activists — maybe 200, he said — had joined the procession to bring their message about social injustice to the thousands of gallery-goers.

Adam Alders, a protester who was playing a drum was arrested after stepping off the curb into the street. Ballesteros said that in doing so, the drummer was joining hundreds of other people who could not fit on the crowded sidewalk.

• Occupy protesters underwhelmed by senator's staff

Ballesteros said he was across the street when he saw the arrest — which he said looked excessively rough -- and it was “startling.” Under legal advice, Ballesteros is not providing additional detail, but apparently he objected — in some fashion — to the arrest. A video of the crowded scene posted on YouTube shows Ballesteros on the ground, being handcuffed.

The police report says officers called for backup when Ballesteros pulled Alders out into the crowd, which was "hostile."

A video of the event shows the crowd chanting "let him go!"

He was booked into jail on a felony charge, the Los Angeles Police department confirmed, and released on $50,000 bail early Tuesday morning.

'I can't go out and express myself'
Ballesteros is not the first protester to face this 1933 California law.

Occupy Oakland activist Tiffany Tran, 23, was arrested Dec. 30 and charged with "lynching." At an arraignment four days later,  prosecutors opted not to file the charges, the San Francisco Bay Guardian reported. They could change their decision until the one-year statute of limitations expires.

"Now I feel I can’t go out and express myself as I should be able to," Tran told the paper.

• Houston DA turns up the heat on Occupy activists 

In the handful of protest cases in which lynching has been used as a charge in the past, it later has been dropped. However, in one case, a court concluded that “lynching” could include “a person who takes part in a riot leading to his escape from custody."

Many states have laws against lynching — largely drafted to prevent white supremacists and other vigilante groups from using violence against African Americans and white people who supported them. Hundreds of lynchings of this sort took place in the late 1800s through the mid-1900s.

Ballesteros' lawyer said use of this law was perhaps less appealing to the District Attorney than to the police.

Ballesteros is an activist outside the Occupy movement -- building homes through Habitat for Humanity during his spring breaks, aiding at a children's camp for the poorest kids in the Appalachians during the summer, and acting as mentor for disadvantaged kids in the Los Angeles area.

"Whether the District Attorney has the stomach to charge this model young man with a felony is questionable," saidd Mieke ter Poorten, an LA criminal defense attorney who is handling this case pro bono.

Trying to silence?
Ballesteros, who spoke to msnbc.com on Tuesday, said that he does not believe he will be convicted of lynching.

“They don’t have much,” he said of the case against him.

He also faces a misdemeanor charge for his arrest Nov. 30, when he was among more than 200 people who defied eviction from an encampment on the grounds of Los Angeles' City Hall. There was an arraignment for protesters arrested that day, but they were told no charges yet had been filed.

“They have a year to do so,” said Ballesteros. "Now they certainly will. It’s obvious. It’s all political.”

Ballesteros took part in a live video forum between Occupy movement activists and Tea Party activists just a day before his arrest. Click here to hear the discussion.

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Seven Occupy protesters were indicted on felony charges by a grand jury in Houston on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office says, in connection with their demonstration at the local port as part of a national day of action by the movement.

The decision comes nearly a week after a judge initially dismissed the charges, saying the protesters could not be charged with possessing or using a "criminal instrument" – a felony in Texas – for their use of PVC pipe.

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The protesters -- three from Austin, four from Houston -- put their arms through the pipe and used latches on it to connect together, making their arrest more difficult but not preventing it, said one of their attorneys, Daphne Silverman, of the National Lawyer's Guild in Houston. Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, confirmed the indictment.

• Houston DA turns up the heat on Occupy activists

"They are feeling, 'wow,' is the word. ... They're in a lot of shock. They were very happy with the justice's decision last week, they believed in her, they believed in the justice system," Silverman said. "These people ... are not criminals. These folks are out there attempting to make the country better for all of us."

Silverman, who noted that she believed the law had been wrongly applied by the prosecutor, said it's likely the protesters will be back in court in January to talk about the next step, such as negotiations or to go to trial. If convicted, they face up to two years in jail.

• Arrests as Occupy Wall Street makes bid for new camp

Protester Dustin Phipps -- who is not one of the seven charged -- said it was a "strategic move" by local police to discourage others from participating in civil disobedience.

"We definitely plan on fighting it," said Phipps, 28, a pre-medical student at the University of Houston. "We're going to move forward ... with faith and determination because we understand we have the rights and the upper hand, and we're going to make sure justice is served."

The protesters had joined with other Occupy outfits across the country that were conducting port shutdowns on Dec. 12 to economically disrupt what they called "Wall Street on the waterfront.”

Arrests on felony arrests were occurring in other cities, such as Denver and New York. Civil rights lawyers have suggested the use of felony charges was another form of crackdown on the movement.

The Houston Police Department has used the "criminal instrument" against protesters on previous occasions, according to Attorney Randall Kallinen, who is representing one of the seven protesters. The charge usually does not hold up in court in such cases, but because it is a felony charge it has a chilling effect on would-be activists, he said.

"We’ve been seeing more of them (felony arrests), especially beginning of November," said Gideon Oliver of the lawyers guild in New York. The police and the district attorney’s office have discretion in determining the charges, "and so there are two sort of steps in the process where ... the police or the DA, if they conducted a reasonable investigation, I think, in a lot of these cases would realize that they’re overcharging."

Msnbc.com's Kari Huus contributed to this report.