Protesters shut down Andriana’s Furs, Neiman-Marcus in snowstorm

On Jan 30, perhaps an hour after the Bob Barker Brigade protested against whaling at the home of Japan’s Ambassador, three protesters showed up at Andriana’s Furs. Andriana’s once agian locked their doors-and 45 minutes later they decided between the protesters and the snow to pack it in and go home.

The same three protesters then moved over to Neiman-Marcus, and when cops refused to violate the protester’s First Amendement rights, Neiman Marcus also locked their doors!

WSQT Audio Coverage of the fur demos.

Neiman-Marcus with their doors and windows locked up for an early closing!

Video of previous week’s fur protest at Neiman-marcus.

Japanese Ambassador gets home demo over whaling

On Jan 30, the Bob Barker brigade deployed 4 protesters in a snowstorm-to the home of the Japanese Ambassador.

VIDEO of Bob Barker Brigade protest

The Protest, held in solidarity with Sea Shepherd, demanded that the Japanese government shut down the whaling corporation known as the institute for Cetacean Research or ICR.

Also on Jan 30, the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin was in port to drop off crew members from the Ady Gil, refuel, and make emergency repairs to the helicopter. They Ady Gil was the Sea Shepherd fast attack craft the whalers rammed and sunk.

Capt Paul Watson said in a video interview that “If I had rammed and sunk a Japanese whaling vessel The Australian Navy would be down there with a warrant for my arrest,” demanding that the government of Australia investigate the ramming of the Ady Gil.

Funk the Warming raids PEPCOAL, MonSatan, CaterKiller

Also known as PEPCO, Monsanto, and caterpiller..

On Jan 2009, Funk the Warming, featuring DC SDS and Rising Tide DC, stormed the offices of PEPCO(aka PEPCOAL),Caterpiller, and Monsanto, to deliver “fossil eggs” about the size of soccer balls. Additional deliveries took place outside The US Chamber of Commerce, Shell and the building housing Xe(Blackwater) and Chevron.

Video on Youtube

The storming of PEPCO featured a special treat: A W Va style square dance outside after the cops grabbed the entry team and physically threw them out of the building. A smaller square dance was staged inside Caterpiller’s lobby.

At Pepco and Monsanto, cops drew billy clubs against protesters in a futile attempt to defend the “fossil hawks” from Funk the Warming. All the entry teams ended up being grabbed and physically thrown out of the buildings, though nobody was arrested.

In effect, protesters raided the “Fossil Hawks” instead of their security forces raiding protesters!

PEPCO, which sources half it’s electricity from coal, much of it mountaintop removal coal,was a particularily good target, given that treesitters are currently keeping Massey’s Beetree Surface Mine shut down in West Virginia.

The “fossil eggs” were an amusing followup to the “melted glaciers” delivered to another list of corporate targets back in November.

DC cop chases DC Indy photographer at Jan 23 fur demo

Here’s his picture, from later in the same protest:

The fur demo involved shut down Andriana’s Furs, at 4400 Jen ifer St NW , which locked their doors and effectively closed until cops arrived 15-20 minutes later.

WSQT Audio coverage of the protest at Andrianas Furs

Protesters later went to Neiman-Marcus(AKA Neiman-CARCASS), and finally back to Andrianas for a second time around.

Bristol-Myers Squibb gets HLS demo

Early the morning of Jan 28, protesters showed up at the office of Huntingdon Life Sciences customer Bristol-Myers Squibb. Fearing an invasion, they locked their doors, forcing employees to go around to other entrances

WSQT Audio coverage

Huntingdon Life Sciences is a contract animal testing laboratory that kills over 500 animals every day testing products like bleach and Splenda. Experimental drugs tested there have later sent human test volunteers to the hospital with multiple organ failure, and protesters are fed up with their animal torture.

Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis also received protests at their offices-and one employee of another firm that shares space with Sanofi-Aventis has been complaining about Sanofi-Aventis’ HLS customer status for years-and that they needed to listen to protesters instead of “locking them up”!

Immigration Rights protesters block streets near Homeland Security

On January 26, several hundred immigration reform/immigrant rights activists from groups such as Casa de Maryland descended on the Department of Homeland Security to demand an end to the workplace raids and detention of immigrants. Both 12th st and Independence Ave were blocked by sitting, arm-locked protesters at different times before 24 people were hauled off the street by the cops.

Audio coverage by WSQT Direct Action Radio

The Washington Post reports that the 24 detainees were not arrested but released onto the sidewalk. I cannot confirm this directly-but no wagons or buses were brought up, so this appears to be the case.

The continuing raids, detentions, and general terrorism against immigrants by ICE has marked yet another broken promise from President Obama. Several speakers remarked on such, and pointedly adopted Obama’s “Yes We Can” English slogan in addition to “Si se puede,” both as a translation and as a pointed reminder of Obama’s promise.

With people getting sick of waiting for an end to ICE’s terror, people are turning to direct action. ICE is under Homeland Security, and Homeland Security is located at 500 12th st SW. When protesters surged out and blocked 12th st, this severed the 12th st link to the city from the SE-SW Freeway. Police declined to arrest them, so everyone marched north to 12th and Independence, where the blockades were re-established.

After about 1/2 hour, the cops (led by no less than Capt Harold) physically removed the 24 blockaders. In addition, some members of the mainstream media were threatened with arrest for standing in the street to take photos.

Police harass HLS protest at Jennifer Luray’s home

On December 26, protesters descended on 3554 Appletojn st NW in DC, the home of HLS propagandist Jennifer Luray. At the protwst, one cop obsessively photographed a female protester

When a protester complained that the only reason for over 50 photos of one woman could be for his own jack-off sessions, cops wrestled him from the crowd, threatened arrest, and demanded ID which they did NOT get.

VIDEO of this confrontation

Jennifer Luray at 3554 Appleton St NW used to work for Huntingdon Life Sciences customer Abbot. Now she works for a nonprofit funded by Abbott and two more HLS customers.

This protest followed a day of fur protests at Dior, Neiman-Marcus, and Andriana’s Furs, which said falsely last year that they were going out of business.

After the HLS protest ended, cops stalked protesters through the streets in a futile attempt to track them to their homes or cars. They went so far as to threaten people with arrest for going up a side street, but could find no legal reason to do so and had to give up. Cops also did this, minus the arrest threat, after a Dec 12 protest, again at Jennifer Luray’s.

Video of police stalking protesters

More fur and HLS demos

On Saturday, December 12, DC animal activists carried out a long day of actions. First one group fliered in the Neiman-Marcus “Furrier’s row” are. Next, militant animal rights activists showed up outside Gartenhaus in the middle of their fur sale, followed by a visit to Miller’s Furs. Finally, Jennifer Luray, now working for a “nonprofit” that fronts for 3 HLS customers, got a home demo.

(photo of Miller’s Furs demo)

Gartenhaus Furs is having a three day sale on fur, so animal rights activsts showed up to name and shame both the fur store-and it’s customers.

Later on, when activists stopped by Miller’s furs, cops at there claimed that pointing a customers and calling them out over the bullhorn was sufficient to violate a law that prohibits singling out someone to impede their path or threaten them with harm. The cop would NOT let me read copy the claimed statute, but it sounds like an “aggressive panhandling” type statute, being used far out of context to harass animal rights activists. Thankfully, that was as far as police problems went on the Dec 12 fur and HLS protests.

About two hours later, protesters reassembled for a protest at the home of Jennifer Luray, whose neighbors claim she no longer works for HLS customer Abbot Labs. Indeed, Jennifer Luray is now Vice President of the “Campaign for Public heath Foundation,” which is funded by her former employer Abbot Labs, Battelle, Glaxo-Smithkline and the March of Dimes. This “Nonprofit,” whose funders include three of Huntingdon Life Sciences’ biggest customers plus the pro-vivisection march of Dimes, lobbies aggresively for HLS’s three biggest customers.

In other words, Jennifer Luray has moved from working for ONE HLS customer to lobbying for THREE of them-and wonders why animal rights activists still show up outside her home at all hours of the day and night.

Audio coverage of the HLS protest at Jennifer Luray’s home

Jennifer Luray, at 3554 Appleton st NW in DC, has been the recipient of numerous protests at her home. Until recently, she worked for Abbot Labs, one of the largest customers of Huntingdon Life Sciences or HLS. Over 500 animals are killed at HLS every day testing things like bleach and Splenda. Now ms Luray claims not to be working for Abbot anymore-instead, she is now Vice-president of a lobbying group representing THREE HLS customers! On Dec 12, protesters once more showed up outside her home-and one even warned Jennifer Luray’s neighbors to watch their dogs and cats(HLS is known to use “random source” animals including kidnapped companion animals).

So much for that so-called “nonprofit!” Whether you work for an HLS customer directly or run one of ther lobbies, in DC there’s NO SLEEP FOR THE WICKED!

Whaling protesters blast Japanese embassy with sound of own LRAD

On Pearl Harbor Day, the 7th of December, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin departed from Australian to once again do battle with the illegal Japanese whaling fleet(The Ady Gill leaves Dec 8). Last time around, the poachers on the whaling ships tried to knock down the Sea Shepehrd helicopter with an LRAD sound cannon.

Also on Dec 7, Sea Shepherd supporters showed up at the Japanese Embassy in Washignton, DC-and they brought a powerful amplifier and a recording of that LRAD sound cannon, the one you may have heard on Whale Wars

VIDEO

Audio coverageby WSQT Direct Action Radio

In one case, people entering the embassy suddenly bolted for the door when the amplifier playing the LRAD sound was suddenly switched on.

This protest took place simultaniously with the first day of Sea Shepherd’s Operation Waltzing Matilda, this year’s campaign to defend the whales. It was also coordinated with protests in other cities, such as at the Japanese Consulate in NYC.

The Steve Irwin departed from C-Dock, Victoria Quay in Fremantle, Australia at 10 AM on Monday morning, December 7th. The Ady Gil, Sea Shepherd’s new super-ship with a 9,000 watt accoustic system of offensive use, a ton of kevlar armor for defense, and a 50 knot top speed leaves the next day, Dec 8.

At sea, both ships will hunt down and stop the poaching, whale-killing ships operated by Japan’s “Institute for Cetacean Research” or ICR. The ICR is suspected by many of being controlled by Yakuza gangsters(Japan’s organized crime syndicate).

The ICR, despite all the talk of “research” on their website, traditionally is funded by profites from selling whale meat-profits that have been replaced by losses since Sea Shepherd started holding them far short of each year’s quota of nearly 1,000 whales. With talk in Japan that the governmental body that has been subsidizing them might have it’s own budget reduced to zero, the Nisshin Maru’s whale killing days seem to be numbered.

Mayor Fenty birthday fundraiser gets noisy protest

On Saturday, December 5th, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty held a combined birthday party/campaign cash fundraiser at 1821 Hoban Road NW, a developer’s model home off Resevoir Road. Just like last year’s similar campaign cash party, dozens of protesters under the name “Take back DC” turned out in the snow to protest the mayor’s agenda of gentrification, privatization, and displacement.

Audio coverage Courtesy of WSQT Direct Action Radio

The rich and powerful had to run a gauntlet of dozens of protesters in the snow just to enter the event.A security guard falsely told protesters they were “trespassing” by occupying the public sidewalk, but was ignored.

At the beginning of the event, the grass between the public sidewalk and the street was lined with Fenty signs, but soon they were all trampled down as you can see in the photo above, becoming a useful surface to stand on in the snow.

Last year’s birthday party/fundraiser also involved a developer, taking place at developer Donatelli’s home on Dec 6 2008 and drawing a similar number of protesters to that neighborhood, also in the snow.

Here’s the call for the protest as posted by Take Back DC:

This Saturday teachers, cab drivers, concerned utility customers,
injured workers, homeless and mental health advocates, union members and
DC residents will come together to picket the Mayor’s Birthday Party
Fundraiser and demand a halt to the privatization of the public sector,
due process for city workers and transparency in the way the City does
business. “As the holiday season rolls around, thousands of residents
will be unable to provide for their families because of the dire
economic situation,” said Robert Mayfield, President of the American
Federation of Government Employees Local 2978 and a leader of Take Back
DC campaign. “This crisis has been inflated by the policies of the Fenty
administration that are chipping away at our City’s safety net by
de-funding much needed public services, selling off public resources to
private interests, and rolling back wages and labor protections for
workers.”

One very ugly incident occurred about halfway through the protest, when a DC cop tried and failed to rob a DC Indymedia photographer of a camera. He demanded ID from an organizer, so the photographer shot a photo. He charged in, saying “you are going to delete my photo or I am going to take your camera. The photographer pretended to fumble with the camera as though to comply, then suddenly yelled “this cop is trying to take my camera,” drawing multiple people in to assist. At that point, the cop (Ofc Dumontt) let go and withdrew all the way back to his patrol car.

This is the cop who tried without success to force a photographer to delete his photo(the one posted above)