Occupy LA protesters sue city

[cory777]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Protesters in the Occupy Los Angeles movement filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against the city and high-ranking officials alleging that the group's constitutional rights were violated during its eviction.

The lawsuit alleges that the Los Angeles Police Department used "shock and awe" military tactics on November 2011 to forcibly remove hundreds of demonstrators who were encamped on the south lawn of City Hall. The group alleges that the police raid that resulted in nearly 300 arrests was "unconstitutional and an unlawful violation of plaintiffs' First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to assembly, association, freedom from unlawful seizure and liberty."

Occupy LA was the local branch of a national movement in which demonstrators established tent communities in major cities to protest economic inequality and the bailout of large banks. Initially, city officials not only permitted but welcomed the L.A. protesters, the suit says.

But after 59 days, and no indication that the protest would end, officials grew increasingly concerned. Fearing that children might have been living in the encampment, LAPD Chief Beck and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decided to shut the camp. Authorities posted signs notifying the group that the lawn fell under the regulations of the city's parks departmement and was subject to closure at night. The group did not move, however, and protesters alleged that it was the city that was violating the law by moving to eject the group, according to the lawsuit.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/protesters-in-the-occupy-la-movement-sues-the-city.html

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Breaking Activist News http://activistnews.org/

[AnotherMcIntosh]

1. K&R

[RBInMaine]

2. Squatting indefinitely in parks is neither legal nor helpful. It solves virtually NOTHING. Try occu-

pying some real political action for a change.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

3. Yeah, because that has worked so well.

NOT.

[randome]

4. It has worked better than what the encampers accomplished.

If all Occupy wanted to do was get their message out, they could have used Facebook.

[NICO9000]

6. Fail

How many older people would be aware of Occupy if it was a FB-only thing? Seeing their kids and grandkids squatting in public places all over the country had way more impact than some BS FB campaign. It's pretty obvious that the 99% message changed the dialog in this election.

[U4ikLefty]

7. You will find a number of authoritarian-loving DU'ers who consistently post

on three subjects without fail: 1) Occupy, 2)Anonymous, and 3) Wikileaks. They are consistent in their disdain for all three.

They are not hard to find & they NEVER come out and say how they really feel. They dance around using innuendo & half-truths to defend their love for the security-state.

[randome]

8. I know I am but what are you?

What a minute, that didn't come out right...

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Perhaps you missed Occupy's message that they are completely non-partisan

due to the system having been compromised by the ultra-rich? That's the "Citizens United" thing, which allows corporations to spend as much money as they wish to get their people (and legislation ideas) elected. The dictator Mussolini, second-hand man to Adolf Hitler, said: "Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.". Which is what we have now. Which is what Occupy seeks to end. And guess what...zero zero zero punishment of wall street or proven corrupt banksters, no return of "bailout" money, which was theft on an astonishing scale...no political action against it whatsoever except for rumblings from Bernie Sanders and similar.

This is why we Occupy.

Oh, and work for the benefit of the Democratic party? We're no one's tea party. And most of the worst police brutality against Occupy (7400+ arrests and counting) have occurred in cities with Democratic mayors, especially Jean Quan of Oakland, who calls herself "progressive". Two Veterans were nearly killed in the same month during her savage attacks upon Occupy. And note that Quan and her police chief Jordan were very well aware of a report showing that crime had dropped by 19% in their city since Occupy Oakland appeared. Yet knowing this, they attacked regardless. They willfully chose a path which would restore crime.

Here is the story, and most importantly, the lies out of Oakland "democratic" mayor Quan:

http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2012/01/oakland-officials-caught-in-lies-about.html

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. BTW, lots of people found food, shelter, and a safe area to sleep in the OLA camp

along with medical attention and =belonging=. This includes some from nearby Skid Row. The city definitely does nothing to help Skid Row except to criminalize the homeless and spend millions on cops to over-patrol and make nuisance arrests. The presence of the camp was beneficial to many, at many levels. Only people who had not been to one can completely miss the sense of Unity, of purpose, of the power of the people to build a better world. Of Hope derived from ourselves and each other.

Something missing from this society which is focused upon following "leaders" who always lie and instead do the bidding of the rich.

[EX500rider]

5. "shock and awe" military tactics ?

B-2 bombers, cruise missiles and MOAB's?

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. A Family Guy writer was one of the 292 arrested. Here is his story. It's not pleasant at all.

My Occupy LA Arrest, by Patrick Meighan

http://myoccupylaarrest.blogspot.com/

Of course none of this made it to the mainstream media. They purposefully kept media out of the camp during the attack. One livestreamer, OakFoSho, was able to get in and had a "less-lethal" weapon pointed in his face. At a closer range than the one which had very nearly killed Veteran Scott Olsen not long before out in Oakland (OakFoSho is from Oakland).

By the city's estimate, 1,400 LAPD and sheriffs attacked the community which had just re-stated its non-violent nature.

Fuck LAPD, Fuck Mayor Villain.

[EX500rider]

12. I have no doubt they used..

.....heavy handed/brutal/police state style anti-riot tactics but that is still no where near what Baghdad went thru during "shock & awe" which is many bombs and cruise missiles blowing things up and killing people at the same time.

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Not specifically literally, but those brutalized are still suffering from the abuse. Please read the

article by Patrick. Subsequent attacks such as on December 17 and March 17 and the entire "artwalk/chalkwalk" LAPD shoot-em-up add to the trauma. Fuck LAPD! Fuck Villaraigosa! They deserve to be stripped of all power and access to power and the system rebuilt.

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. Really? FUCKING FINALLY.