Unsettle Frederick - Reece D talks about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “The Chief of Police Stepped On Me and Then He Charged Me With Rioting”: Activists Face Jail Time for Defending Homes. Police Chief Dolan steps on protesters on his way into the Cruz home.
(Peter Leeman)Photo Credit: Peter Leeman August 21, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. The police came at four in the morning with a battering ram to the Cruz home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “After we had been peacefully occupying this house for over a month without any incidents, then they come in with a battering ram and blame us for disturbing the peace,” said Nick Espinosa, one of the organizers with Occupy Homes Minnesota, which has taken the lead in saving local families from being put out on the street. The battering ram was just adding insult to injury—the Cruz family was being evicted through no fault of their own, because PNC bank had made a mistake in processing their payments.
They face up to two years in prison. Occupy Our Homes Faces Off With US Marshals in Washington. Share Occupy Our Homes engaged in a dramatic faceoff this morning with US Marshals and local police in northeast Washington D.C., less than a mile from the US Capitol building.
About thirty Occupiers arrived at the home of Dawn Butler around 8 am, in the 900 block of Maryland Ave NE, to block a looming eviction—and what followed left one Occupier and one US Marshal in the hospital. Butler doesn’t own the home, but has rented it since 2006. Her landlord fell behind on her mortgage payments while sick with cancer, and the property was foreclosed on—but D.C. law says tenants have the first right of purchase on a home where the landlord loses the title. Butler claims she has repeatedly tried to buy the home but has been repeatedly ignored or thwarted by JP Morgan Chase and a local foreclosure firm.
An eviction notice came last night, and this morning the protesters showed up to help. Heavily armed US Marshals, however, made quick work of the protester’s blockade. 'Occupy Our Homes' Campaign Brings Protests to Foreclosed Homes. A subset of Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country are bringing their fight indoors with plans to stay in foreclosed homes for months. The group launched a national campaign on Tuesday called Occupy Our Homes -- literally living in the homes of foreclosed homeowners, giving temporary reprieve from the bitter cold. Nick Espinosa, one of the organizers of Occupy Minneapolis, which officially launched Oct. 7, said Minnesota's cold makes it difficult for people to spend the winter outdoors, where the temperature is forecasted to reach a low of two degrees on Thursday just as Hennepin County authorities removed unattended tarps and chairs at the plaza outside the Minneapolis government center, the Associated Press reported.
The numbers at the plaza fluctuate, but they are "dwindling," Espinosa said. "It makes sense to be indoors but really this is a larger issue," he said. Peter Leeman/Kyle Kehrwald Postal Service Could Eliminate 1-Day Delivery Watch Video "They haven't said much. Occupy’s next frontier: Foreclosed homes. Occupy Wall Street is promising a “big day of action” Dec. 6 that will focus on the foreclosure crisis and protest “fraudulent lending practices,” “corrupt securitization,” and illegal evictions by banks.
Occupy Wall Street protesters take to vacant, foreclosed homes. Occupy Our Homes Launches Ad To Fight Foreclosures. Occupying Freddie Mac to Save a First Responder’s Home. OccupyOurHomes. 27% of home buyers ages 25 to 34 - 10 year low. Number of the day That's the portion of U.S. home buyers last year who were 25 to 34 years old, the lowest level in a decade, according to the National Association of Realtors.
One reason fewer young people are buying houses is because they're on the hook for big student loans and can't qualify for a mortgage. Student debt is approaching $1 trillion, more than credit card debt, and banks have instituted tighter mortgage lending standards in the wake of the financial crisis. Hear here "Anything can happen on game day. " Occupy our Homes Baltimore. June 12, 2012|By Jessica Lewis, Alex Bennett and Saba Nazeer Those who rely on mainstream media to tell them what's happening can be forgiven for coming to the same opinion as ex-Gov.
Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who wrote in his recent column "Capitalism on trial" (June 3) that the Occupy movement has disintegrated. While aggressive law enforcement has prevented Occupy in many cities from re-establishing a prolonged and public presence, activists have put their energy to use by linking with community and neighborhood activists to fight the most visible footprint of the speculative 1 percent: foreclosed-upon homes. Exclusive Behind The Scenes With Occupy Wall Street. Daniel Goodman / Business Insider The big protests and the public occupation of Zuccotti Park that raise attention and disrupt the normal schedule of daily life have been widely covered by the media.
But how do these actions really get planned? What does it take to execute a public action such as occupying a foreclosed home?