At 4:30 p.m., Captain Rodriguez of Union Station announced there will be no raid before dawn. He didn't answer further questions, including whether the raid would be delayed beyond that.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18793517 Leslie Radford On Sunday, November 27, 2011 9:40:46 AM, Leslie Radford wrote: > LOS ANGELES, 27 Nov 2011--The Occupiers at City Hall are asking all > Angelenos to come to City Hall starting at 10:30 p.m. tonight and > secure the space from a scheduled police raid until the Occupation can > obtain a temporary restraining order when the courts open in the > morning. To cede City Hall to the Mayor is to allow government, yet > again, to control public spaces and public voices. It is to allow, yet > again, the wealthy and powerful to frame the discussion, to shut down > the face of the movement. For 58 days, Occupiers by the hundreds and > sometimes thousands have taken up residence on the lawn as proxies for > the swelling dissatisfaction of nearly all Angelenos with social and > economic inequality. At this juncture, the Occupiers are calling on > all Angelenos to stand with them to protect the Occupation. > > The current Occupiers are inviting Angelenos to round-the-clock block > party with marches around City Hall, bands, and vigils until the space > is secured again for the people. The people of Los Angeles are invited > to come to City Hall to celebrate and claim their space and keep the > police at bay all night and into tomorrow, until the court can intercede. > > Seventy-two hours ago, notices were tacked up around City Hall lawn. > Mayor Villaraigosa and police Chief Beck sent out the ultimatum to all > of Los Angeles in a holiday weekend press conference timed to reach > you on the local evening news: your Occupation of City Hall would > officially end tonight. The Occupiers have responded that the City has > no right to proscribe the people's right under the First Amendment to > peaceably assemble and petition for a redress of grievances. > > Since the encampment arose on October 2, hundreds and sometimes > thousands of Los Angeles residents have walked through, picnicked, and > camped on the lawn of City Hall daily in a visible demonstration of > dissatisfaction with the social and economic status quo. Angelenos by > the thousands have joined the groundswell of Occupations across the > country and the world, reclaiming spaces and visibility in what had > been a monologue about the “needs” of the wealthiest and most > influential at the expense of the remaining 99%. With unemployment, > foreclosures, and personal debt skyrocketing, as small businesses > vanish overnight and homelessness swells, as entire at-risk > communities fall into the economic abyss, the people of the United > States and worldwide are rising up against financial bailouts doled > out to the wealthiest 1%, tax preferences for multinational > corporations, corporate take-over of the government, and preferential > treatment for those who need it least. > > Today, all Angelenos are needed to give up a night's sleep for just > and fair treatment in government, for safety and security for our > children, our friends, our neighbors, for right to a better future > that's not gobbled up by the mechanisms of the wealthy. And tomorrow, > workplaces all over the City will be a little less productive, and the > social balance will have swung a bit more toward justice. > > In the words of Jessica and Alex, Occupiers: > > *Emergency Communique Establishing our Right to Occupy* > > > We recognize, and urge city officials to recognize, the entrenched > interests pressuring for the evacuation of Solidarity Park on behalf > of “local” but most certainly multinational corporations, just as they > have collectively lobbied as the Central City Association, pushing for > an anti-encampment ordinance. We assert, in light of our action on > Nov. 17th in which a private citizen on behalf of BofA placed 46 > protesters under private persons arrest with the help of hundreds of > the LAPD as well as a militarized 4-block radius, that the city is not > being transparent in their reasoning for eviction and is in fact > moving at the behest of the 1%. > > OLA rejects municipal health, safety or aesthetic concerns as invalid > reasoning to displace our encampment, a political space for unhindered > peaceful assembly and the expression of free speech. > > We remind you that as taxpayers, for decades we have paid into > paving these streets and funding the operations of governmental > buildings without asking for anything other than representation of our > interests. This social contract has been broken, and rather than wait > for utter economic collapse, the people have taken encampment upon > themselves as a tool of sustaining and amplifying free speech. Our > presence as OccupyLA, in its current form, actively asserts our right > to free assembly through the chosen method of occupation. We occupy > as a presence and force of vigilance under a political process that > leaves no room for the organic and legitimate voice of the people. > > We remind you that though you speak of the sustainability of our > encampment, we are here to address the sustainability of corruption > and greed in our social, economic and governmental processes. We do > not consider the grass, unsustainable in this climate, to be a > suitable reason to displace an encampment of people intent on > exercising their right to free speech. The issues affecting our > encampment and exploited in the media, in terms of non-participation > via drug or alcohol use, or the appearance of increased petty crime in > and around the immediate encampment area, are a result of the same > lack of resources/poverty that disproportionately effects many of our > communities on a consistent and predatory basis. We reject the > criminalization of these behaviors and instead demand their prompt > consideration as symptoms of a diseased public policy process > insufficient in addressing the needs of the people. > > The Occupation of Los Angeles, in assembling peacefully at Solidarity > Park, has created a microcosm of the society we live in and > unabashedly thrusts it from the periphery right onto the doorstep of > City Hall. We stand behind our de-gentrification of the downtown space > as a direct response to the relationship between government and > private corporations and the assault on public space. > > When faced with the unjust relationship of government officials with > the private sphere and the corrupting influence of money in the > political process, it is important to measure the reaction of law > enforcement against the message put out by the people in the streets. > It is important to point out the comparatively harsh and organized > violence that has characterized the police response to OWS in cities > across the US and how our message about economic inequality has > something to do with that. It is important to highlight the concerted > efforts of 19 cities, under the umbrella of the Dept. of Homeland > Security, to propogandize and suppress the occupation movement in one > fell swoop. > > Going further, we call upon all sisters and brothers of the occupy > movement, sympathizers, supporters and critics to join us as we defend > and reestablish our individual and collective rights to free speech > and assembly (date and time of determined meeting point at that time). > And we call upon all individuals to speak out against the use of > intimidation, force, politics and power to break up peaceful > occupations and repress or criminalize the exercise of our first > amendment rights. > > > -- > Leslie Radford ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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