Sunday, November 20, 2011

2 OccupyMN Arrests. Foreclosure Action Ended.

The story that a squad car showed up at the OccupyMn Foreclosure Action, and ran a man over, is being circulated.. while the video shows something a little less serious, the headline is sensational.

The video which is in circulation does not show the entire narrative, so I thought I would post here what I've witnessed.
This narrative perspective is speculation based on video evidence, but I believe it's correct.
I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
There is a fuller video which shows a bit more of the context to the weekends arrests.
It looks to me like the cops showed up to investigate, and arrest a kid, whom had an earlier confrontation with transit police on platform across from Government, er, Peoples Plaza.
In the previous incident, the officers were hassling people to leave the platform if they didn't have train tickets. A young guy attempting to stand up for himself, was indignant with the Transit Cop, basically saying "blah blah blah la la la all I hear is.." then loudly yelling "BULL-SHIT!!". He was not arrested at that time. The scene then turned into a larger confrontation with many squads showing up. (Video follows)

Forward to this weekend. It is not confirmed that it's the same kid, but it looks like him in the video whom the cops showed up to "investigate". Again, please correct me if I'm wrong.. I'm not 100% certain..
They used this to gain entry to the foreclosed/occupied home, then proceeded to clear it out "for safety reasons".

After taking the kid into custody, the departing squad car was blocked by a cross armed guy who refused to move from the street. The driver proceeded to attempt a nudge action and continued driving, pushing the guy about 15 feet down the road before stopping, getting out and performing a frustrated, slightly aggressive arrest.

The Associated Press is reporting that the first kid was arrested for burglary and trespass, while the second one was arrested for obstruction of justice.

The occupiers formed a circle around the house and chanted, as the police left. They saw this as a victory in an attempt to evict them, but really it was this other investigation (..?..?) In any case, Police showed up in force the next day (today), cleared the house and boarded it up. It's a shame. I thought the Occupy Foreclosures idea was a very good one.

End of story, here are the videos I found which give the big picture. In reverse chronology.



This bridge action (Previous post) probably also factored into the whole ambiance of this weekend.

News Media stories linked below
http://www.mndaily.com/2011/11/21/police-remove-protesters-foreclosed-house
http://wjon.com/2-weekend-occupymn-arrests-in-minneapolis-video/
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/0d95b7ee2d1d4c9a9de96d1a0d224852/MN--Occupy-Minnesota/
FULL GOOGLE NEWS COVERAGE



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