Reportback from Fur Free Friday

On Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, Fur Free Friday the 25th of November, two groups deployed protesters to DC retailers selling fur garments to the 1% who can afford to buy fur.

Defending Animal rights Today and Tomorrow had spirited and noisy protests outside Burberry, Rizek Brothers, and Neiman-Marcus, while PETA had three visible signs and at least one leafleter at a low-key protest outside Untied Colors of Benetton in Georgetown. At least 4 fur retailers in DC saw protests, and there was a report of another group hitting fur retailers in Montgomery County.

Riziks was a new target. They have sold bridal goods for over 100 years but also sell furs. An activist from DARTT called then on the phone from outside the store, inviting them to have a cordial meeting on the subject of removing fur garments from their product line. When they refused to schedule a meeting, they received what will be the first of many protests outside.

After Rizeks, part of the DARTT team deployed to the notorious fur-selling retailer Neiman-Marcus on the DC line on Wisconsin Ave.

Meanwhile, PETA was doing their own thing outside Benetton in Georgetown, with three visible signs and at least one person distributing leaflets, with a huge crowd of what appeared to be shoppers around them.

Free Franklin, Occupy DC take over Franklin School, formerly Franklin Shelter

On the 19th of September, an “Occupy cabaret” puppet show visited a variety of locations with activist history, such as the World Bank before ending Franklin Square. A puppet show about the history of Franklin School and the shelter there ended with one additional act-the dropping of banners announcing the liberation of the building for the third time.

Video of the occupation and the march/puppet show that preceded it

Related:Video Highlights of Nov 21 Community meeting on future of Franklin and DC public property

Shortly before what was only promoted as a traveling puppet show left McPherson Square, another march departed for the Egyptian Embassy in solidarity with hard-pressed democracy activists in Egypt. Most of the police followed that march, so by the time the puppet show arrived at Franklin there was exactly ONE cop at the scene. The whole riot squad would have made no difference, though, as the occupation team was already inside the building.

It took the police several attempts to evict “Free Franklin” from Franklin School, ultimately leading to 11 arrests as reported by the Washington Post. The first two attempts tried to use a fire department ladder truck to reach the windows of Franklin School, but unlike in the 2002 and 2003 occupations, police did not have reliable control of the streets in which the fire trucks would have to work. The ladder truck was twice turned away by protesters, in one case I saw by protesters blocking the road directly in front of it.

With the ladder truck out of the picture, police fell back to attempting to enter the building from the alley between 13th st and 12th st. Apparently police did not have an easy time of it, taking until about 7PM to gain entry into the building. At that point,protesters set sit-in blockades closing both ends of the alley, blocking in the cops. Police lingered inside the building for a while with their arrestees, finally pushing their way through the 13th st blockade.

When the first of the two police vans attempted to leave the area, protesters blocked the escape route-and the van surged forward anyway, running over one person’s foot as police tackled at least two more protesters. I do not know if there were any further arrests, but at least the woman whose foot was run over by the van was no arrested and seemed to be able to walk on it OK.

By the time the last arrestees were removed from the area, it was around 8PM, 7 hours after the Cabaret March hit the road and nearly 4 hours after the occupation of Franklin School had been revealed with the banner drop.

Background on prior occupations of Franklin School and its use as a homeless shelter

The history of occupations and uses of this school as a shelter started with the eviction of the Olive Branch in 2002. That was in response to Olive branch demands that the Reeves Center be used as a hypothermia shelter. The eviction gave rise to MAYDAY DC, which stayed in 1006 M st until the US marshalls evicted them at gunpoint. Two days later, with cops expecting a reoccupation of 1006 M st., MAYDAY DC occupied the abandoned Franklin School instead. The demand was that since Mayor Williams would not use Reeves for a hypothermia shelter, why not Franklin?

Franklin opened as a shelter shortly thereafter, with former Mayor Williams desperate to put an end to MAYDAY DC disrupting his campaign fundraisers. The following year, 2003, it was closed at the request of local businesses. MAYDAY DC intelligence sources found the McDonalds at 13th and NY Ave, had done the complaining, so after three weeks of marches to Franklin from the Wilson Building, the McDonald’s roof was occupied. Two days later Franklin School was retaken. That time around, the police decided NOT to arrest the occupiers, as many of them were elders from the Gray Panthers. Franklin Shelter was reopened.

In September 2008, former Mayor Fenty closed Franklin shelter with the intention of transferring the building to a developer. This was one of many things that made him a one-term mayor. In 2010, during the current administration of Mayor Gray, a hearing was held on declaring Franklin “surplus” with no further public use. Community activists packed the hearing-and I warned in person that any developer buying the building risked reoccupation.

On the 19th of November, 2011, that prediction came to pass, with Occupy DC or activists working with Occupy DC seizing the building. A community hearing has been set for Monday, November 21, (details TBA when I can play my video clips!,) to solicit community input as to the future of the building.

Occupy DC, Unions march on but do not block Key bridge

On Novembver 17, a global day of action for the Occupy Movement, Occupy DC backed up union protesters demanding infrastructure repair jobs. The unions protested at bridges around the US, selecting Key Bridge for their protest in DC.

Video of the march on Key Bridge

While tens of thousands in NY marched on the Brooklyn Bridge in NY, Occupy DC marched from McPherson Square, took over Georgetown streets, and marched to the pedestrian sidewalks of Key Bridge.

Cops were really sweating about the chance that protesters would decide to block the bridge. The Virginia cops were reported to have full riot gear as well as tow trucks in case the scenario from the first day of the Iraq War was repeated. On that day, protesters emerged from the Metro to block Key Bridge, assisted by two “batmobiles” or junk cars abandoned in blockading positions. Even earlier than that time, striking sanitation workers during the 1990′s once blocked the 14th st bridge by parking garbage trucks on it.

The DC cops did not show up in riot gear, but the did line the curbs between sidewalks and streets at the bridge-and refused to allow ANY pedestrians to use the crosswalks closest to the bridge.

This time around, Occupy DC chose not to block the bridge, doing so would have been entirely possible by deploying units just outside the police defenses to cut off access to the bridge from the DC side.

Police problems were limited to a horse cop running into someone and a motorcycle cop riding too close to but not striking protesters when an Occupy DC contingent took over the Georgetown streets for a second time while marching back to McPherson Square from the bridge.

This was the largest protest in Georgetown I have seen since the October rebellion. There is one other aspect about having a protest of rotting, unmaintained infrastructure on a bridge-you wonder about the condition of the bridge you are standing on with all the extra weight!

Here’s the timeline for what was happening at Occupy Wall Street at the same time:

6:35 pm: From TheOther99, reports of NYPD intimidating the press, told Tim Pool he would have his press card revoked if he was arrested.
6:30 pm: City Hall is locked down, from @JoshHarkinson
6:15 pm: At least 10,000 (reports as high as 20,000) headed towards Brooklyn Bridge chanting “Whose Streets? Our Streets!”
5:30 pm: #OWS shuts down Canal St.
5:25 pm: NYPD cavalry begins to be appear on Centre Street.
5:16 pm: 90 Fifth Avenue occupied by students from Pratt, Columbia, NYU, Hunter pic.twitter.com/lBNwUwpJ
5:07 pm: more police sirens heard headed toward Foley
5:00 pm: chant: “Bloomberg beware, Zuccotti Park is everywhere!”
4:53 pm: marchers headed from west end of 14th have been cut off by police barricades
4:47 pm: 5th ave has been shut down
4:42 pm: music and chants can be heard emanating from Foley Square
4:40 pm: as other marches continue heading down Broadway and from Liberty Square, 7th and 6th st are reported to have been taken by protesters
4:26 pm: Foley reported full of protestors, NYU students still on their way; other feeder marches (including from Liberty Square) also en route

OWS Solidarity: Occupy DC storms DC offices of Bloomfield, hits US Conf of Mayors

The sickening November 15 police raid on Occupy Wall Street, complete with videotaped beatings,cries out for payback. Late afternoon the same day, Occupy DC stormed into the Victor Building on 9th st, housing the DC offices of Bloomfield Office properties, “owner” of Zucatti Park the home base of Occupy Wall Street.

Video of the DC Solidarity action with intro of NY cops beating Occupy Wall Street

Occupy DC’s arrival seemed to take Bloomfield by complete surprise, as the door was unlocked, allowing protesters to swarm into the building, reinforced lead banner and all, until no more would fit in the first floor hallway. I do not know if anyone tried to get upstairs or otherwise further into the building to the actual offices of Bloomfield Office Properties.

After Occupy DC returned to the streets, a rumor started that the Park Police, who had been present earlier in unusual but not especially high numbers,were raiding McPherson Square. This turned out to be false, with no problems at the campsite at all.

Protesters marched past McPherson,and shortly thereafter a police motorcycle struck one of the protesters. Unlike the car striking a protester at the Convention Center on November 4, there did not appear to be any injuries this time, so protesters moved on after helping him up and settling this matter.

Occupy DC then continued to their next target along a route that suggested the target was the back entrance to the US Chamber of Commerce. This was NOT the target, instead the US Conference of Mayors was hit. This building was locked, either because attack was expected or because marchers may have simply arrived after they locked up for the night.

Occupy DC speakers in a “mike check” reported a conference call by 18 mayors to coordinate this week’s nationwide attacks on Occupy camps, MSNBC reports only 11 mayors participating-with the mayors denying it was to coordinate a wave of attacks. Personally, after the lies of Williams, Fenty, and Gray on so many issues, I am not inclined to believe the US Conference of Mayor’s claim that the call was just a “therapy session.”

The Mayor of Oakland has now admitted there was a conference call with 18 mayors just before the series of raids

After the US Conference of Mayors, Occupy DC marched on the White House. The Washington Post reports 37% of respondents supporting Occupy, more than enough to decide an election. Stopping the US Conference of Mayors could prove to be just as important to the President’s re-election chances as sinking the Keystone XL pipeline, as Occupy voters make this a “gut check” issue.

Occupy protesters disrupt US Chamber of Commerce “healthcare” event

On November 14th, C-Span and “Think Progress” reported that “Occupy protesters” disrupted a US Chamber of Commerce event on healthcare with their classic “mike check” human microphone technique.

I do not know if this was Occupy DC or Stop the Machine, but Stop the Machine had posted on their schedule that there would be an unspecified 11 AM event, and they are known for targeting the Chamber of Commerce.

Obama speech draws emergency tar sands protest as victory over Keystone XL nears

On the evening of November 9, President Obama spoke at the Connecticut Ave Hilton to the Women’s National Lawyer’s Center. Outside, opponents of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline held an emergency protest to remind the President that he needs to finish off the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all with a flat refusal of the permits.

Video-protesters outside the Hilton chant “Stop the Pipeline yes you can!”

It was announced the next day that Obama has sent the Keystone XL project back to the Dept of State for a “re-review” of the pipeline, it’s routing, and environmental impact to include global climate change. There was talk of this by Wednesday night’s protest, but it appeared in Thursday’s mainstream papers and email stories confirming this did not appear until the evening of November 10. Bill McKibbons has declared victory, saying that “most analysts” believe this will kill the project outright.

There are those, however, who fear another meaning of this delay, as expressed in Wednesday night’s protest: that Obama is trying to put off the decision until after the election. Although no construction can now take place for the next year, this means that if the State Department review fails to kill the Keystone XL project all the way, Obama will have re-election imopunity, having either won or lost the 2012 election prior to making this decision. Even worse, a slightly longer delay of a year and a quarter could even let a Republican make this decision if Obama loses and does not make a decision at that time to stop the review and kill the project.

Any way you cut it,though, the Keystone XL pipeline is in serious trouble. Hopefuly this is the end of it, but I would NOT advise ending the campaign, because as I saw with the Inter-County Connector, these kinds of projects do have the habit of rising from the grave. The President needs to kill the Keystone XL all the way dead and drive a stake through it’s heart before this one can be called over.

Occupy DC, laborers block all entrances of old Convention Center site

On the 8th of November, Occupy DC joined forces with LiUNA, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, to punish union-busting Clark Construction for their refusal to hire DC’s African-American construction workers. All entrances to the old Convention Center site, a Clark Construction site, were blocked,the same tactics used at the Friday, Nov 4 blockade at the current Convention Center.

Video from the blockade of the old Convention Center site-and of aggressive police tactics to deny Occupy DC the streets

This was in spite of aggressive police tactics aimed at denying Occupy DC control of the streets, using horses and motorcycles as well as cars. All that policing made little differnce at the target, as not even Clark wanted to drive big Peterbilt trucks over protesters and the cops did attempt to force their way through either.

At least one heavy truck had to park for the duration of the protest on 9th st, and other trucks with drivers inside were visible on the other side of the NY Ave gate, with adjoins their main parking lot. For the holder of a hard to get commercial drivers licence (CDL), trying to pass through protest lines would be a completely unacceptable risk, with the least serious consequence of an “incident” being a drug test at an unexpected time.

Since drug tests are notorious for false positive, almost nobody can really count on passing a surprise drug test unless they have used no prescription drugs and no over-the-counter drugs for the previous week without checking their ingredients list for known false positives on these drug tests. Even poppy seed hamburger buns can and do cause false positive drug tests for heroin. This is enough to make any commerical truck driver very unlikely to risk attacking protesters and creating possible problems for keeping that CDL. Therefore, protest blockades are highly effective at stopping heavy trucks, and probably a lot safer than blocking cars.

There were no violent incidents despite the cops showing up with horses and motorcycles, in at least one case with a club drawn. In fact there were no attempts by Clark to get anything or anyone into or out of the site for the entire duration of the protest!

Estimated 12,000 surround White House to protest Keystone XL pipeline

On the 6th of November, an estimated 12,000 people surrounded the White House, all the way around and at least three deep, demanding that President Obama deny the permit for the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline to cross the US-Canadian border.

Video of tar sands protesters surrounding the White House

Organizers had printed 4,000 orange stop the pipeline vests, but there were so many protesters the majority did not have them because supplies ran out!

This is the same Keystone XL pipeline that over 1,200 people were arrested in front of the White House from August 20 to September 3 in earlier protests against. Obama has now promised to make the decision on the permit, a State Department function, himself. Environmental activists are warning Obama to refuse the pipeline’s permit, or risk losing the 2012 election as dismayed environmentalists stay home in droves.

Only twice since the April 16, 2000 IMF protests has the White House been fully surrounded by protesters. Once was an ANSWER rally years ago in the early days of the Iraq war, the other was today’s protest against the Keystone XL pipeline.

background

The Alberta tar sands contain so much oil they’ve been called “a second Saudi Arabia.”The only thing is, the bitumen in the tar sands is not all the way to being oil, and the current extraction processes use up to 80% of the oil’s energy value just in getting it out of the ground. Already 40% of all natural gas consumption in Alberta is to feed existing tar sands oil refining-and that’s without the pipeline!

Native American communities whose land is being destroyed by the destructive mining processes used to extract this oil were the first to speak out against the Keystone XL pipeline, and caught the attention of climate scientists. These scientists have concluded that if all the oil in the tar sands is burned, it’s “game over” for stopping catastrophic climate change!

Bank of America protests continue despite end of debit card fees

On November 11, a small team from Occupy DC marched on the Bank of America at Dupont Circle-and found a second group already protesting there over their failure to pay taxes and payment of massive bonuses to executives after taking bailout money.

The detachment from Occupy DC was there to support a participant who was closing his account at Bank of America as part of the national “move your money” day aimed at the big banks that took bailout funds, don’t pay taxes, etc.

Bank of America has been hit with a wave of account closures as well as protests, some but not all of the account closures a result of the debit card fees. Mainstream news reports have interviewed former Bof A account holders saying they will never go back to Bank of America even with the revocation of the debit card fees. Some of that may be because the messages of the Occupy movement about bailout-hungry banks that don’t pay taxes are being widely heard.

Cars ram, police choke and arrest protesters blockading Koch-funded event at Convention Center

On the 5th of November, nearly 1,000 people orqanized by Occupy DC and a guerrilla projection group blockaded nearly all exists from the Washington Convention Center as the Koch brothers-funded “Defending the American Dream” summit came to a close. A number of motorists hit protesters with the cars, the last one hard enough to send at least one person to the hospital.

Video of the Lexus ramming protesters

Video of guerrilla projection and blockades

The protests began with a march out of McPherson Square past the Convention Center to link up with a second group equipped with a video projector. The projector was used to show short videos about the crimes of the Koch brothers in corrupting American politics on the side of the Convention Center-while the Koch funded “Defending the American Dream Summit” took place inside.

After the videos, protesters marched around the Convention Center, and as they got back to 7th and K st, a car ran into a protester. That time around, it was with too little force to inflict injury, but it was a taste of things to come.

Protesters responded with a sit-in blockade of 7th and K st, and then spread out to block the interections of both 7th and 9th sts with K, L, and M streets.

At maybe 9:30PM, these blockades were reinforced with blockades of the outward-opening doors of the Convention Center as conventiongoers attempted to leave on foot. These blockades were highly effective once set up, but there was some leakage.At one point a protester at the M st side by the Metro was put into a chokehold by a cop-the SAME cop who later showed up as someone was arrested for trying to stop a car whose driver rammed two protesters, putting at least one of them in the hospital with at least a reported broken leg and I heard a description of symptoms that lead me to believe there may have been a head injury as well from the impact.

While a number of drivers had driven their cars into contact with protesters while trying to force their way through the street blockades, usually without sucess, this one was different. Two people were run down by a Lexus which accelerated towards them and immmediately fled the scene, in the process ramming more protesters at the blockade at 7th st and NY Ave.

The Lexus was finally stopped trapped by traffic at 7th and K sts where both protesters and police caught up. Protesters demanded the police arrest the driver for the ramming, an act considered attempted murder in most states. In addition, police are allowed to respond with GUNFIRE if they find themselves being rammed by an opponent’s car.

Instead of arresting the driver of the Lexus, however, the cops arrested someone who they claim tried to stop the car by kicking at it-and brandished pepper spray when protesters responded with chants of “let him go.” Two other arrests were reported by the Occupy DC website, for a total of three arrests, one injury sufficient to force hospitalization.

Finally, the police released the driver of the Lexus with a traffic ticket. They haven’t heard the last of this one!