Civil rights lawyers move to fight Occupy evictions nationwide

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Guardian

Civil rights lawyers move to fight Occupy evictions nationwide

Lawyers say authorities are citing obscure codes as pretexts for crackdowns, violating the first amendment in the process
Karen McVeigh in New York guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 December 2011 18.06 EST

Los Angeles police lined up against protesters before clearing the camp. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
Civil rights lawyers are ramping up their fight to halt Occupy evictions around the country, in the face of concerted efforts by city officials to clear the streets of their encampments.

Throughout the country, local authorities are citing health and safety concerns and invoking obscure municipal codes as pretexts for clampdowns, according to the National Lawyers Guild. This week saw two of the largest occupations, in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, cleared, while the first and most symbolic occupation of Occupy Wall Street in New York, was cleared amid violent clashes between police and protesters in mid-November.

Meanwhile, activists from Occupy San Francisco have voted against an offer from the city to move to an alternate site, with some suspicious that the offer is a political tactic by the mayor to seem compassionate before an upcoming raid.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/01/civil-rights-lawyers-fight-occupy-evictions

[Jefferson23]

1. Good to hear.

K&R

[mvd]

2. K&R

I have confidence the movement will find a way to evolve whatever happens.

[valerief]

3. kick

[DaveJ]

4. This is important, IMO

I feel we lack essential freedom of space in the country, especially, but not limited to urban areas.

It is a serious problem saying we have freedom of speech, but can't express it anywhere, except in free speech pens, perhaps.

I don't know how Americans have tolerated it for this long.

[castnet55]

5. Reality

The reality of this is for every manuver the lawyers make the cities will eventually counter.
This is the first time that the cities have had to out fox the demonstraters by dealing with camping in public/ semi public spaces.
I wish everyone luck who can attend the rallies, just remember that the man is plotting more than one way to shut this down.

[No Elephants]

6. This would be an especially good time to donate to the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU.

Even if time is donated--and that is not always feasible or best--there are plenty of out of pocket costs that need to be covered.

If you can't be out on the street, you can donate five or ten dollars or more.

Yes, you can.