Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Occupy May Day



Around 50 activists (click here) have occupied parts of the London Stock Exchange and Paternoster square as part of May Day protests in London.
Members of the Occupy movement and Anonymous – better known for its online hacking activities – have also erected a number of tents inside the square which is privately owned and the subject of a previous court injunction banning occupation protests.
The central monument in the square was turned into a Maypole and a tent was foisted on top of it. Also hung fromthe LSE entrance was bannerreading: "A line of tents guards our futures."...

By Kristen Leigh Painter
The Denver Post
Posted:   05/01/2012 12:06:09 PM MDT
Updated:   05/01/2012 12:14:33 PM MDT


Spring is beckoning the Occupy Wall Street movement (click here) — including Occupy Denver — out of its winter hibernation, and is marking its May Day awakening with a nationwide, solidarity march designed as a "general protest."
While May Day's history is a mixture of disparate world events and traditions, today's Occupy marches are playing off of May 1st role as International Workers' Day. A coalition of Occupiers, labor rights groups, and immigrant groups has formed to highlight their common goals and reignite enthusiasm for the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Occupy Denver's organizers have come out of the woodwork to plan today's march, teach-ins, live performances, and trading stations. They will begin at Civic Center Park and weave their way through the downtown business district before returning to the park. According to the website, they hope to peacefully "occupy until dusk."...




DOUG ERICKSON and SANDY CULLEN
Wisconsin State Journal
Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 8:45 am

Members of the Occupy Madison encampment have until noon Tuesday (click here) to leave the site on East Washington Avenue they have called home for months after a judge on Monday denied a temporary restraining order that would have prevented city officials from removing them.
Dane County Circuit Judge Amy Smith said Occupy Madison and three of its members who filed a lawsuit Friday against city officials had not met their burden of proof to show that their constitutional rights of expression and assembly would be violated and they would suffer significant harm by having to vacate the city-owned vacant parking lot in the 800 block of East Washington Avenue.
"It's a blow," Daniel Callahan, one of the Occupy members who filed the suit, said after the ruling.
City officials said they expect an orderly turnover at the site, where Occupy members will have until noon Tuesday to remove the hoop-house structures that have served as temporary shelters....

Occupy Oakland activists kick off May Day general strike and protests (click here)

...Around 9 this morning Occupiers began gathering at three main sites around Oakland—Snow Park, Frank Ogawa Plaza and in front of Child Protective Services at 4th and Broadway—but many soon dispersed to participate in a number of marches planned for the day. According to a bulletin released by the City Administrator’s Office this morning, some of the rallies and marches planned for today include the March for Dignity and Resistance/ Decolonize Oakland that will begin at 3 pm at Fruitvale Plaza and march to San Antonio Park, a demonstration by the California Nurses Association at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center on Hawthorne Avenue, and several marches that will use Frank Ogawa Plaza as their endpoint throughout the day. As of 10:45 am, several small marches are also ongoing in the downtown area....