Occupy SF - General Assembly October 6 - Part 1

Activists have spent all day organizing and negotiating with various agencies including SFPD and City Hall in response to this mornings events. Fast logistical activities are being arranged to re-stock supplies, re-arrange logistics, get new donations, and work to get the seized property back.

Representatives from the National Lawyer’s Guild and ACLU spoke. Content includes upcoming trainings on Know Your Rights, legal observer trainings, and cop watch. A detailed report back on the police/DPW raid was provided, which differs from what is being reported in corporate media. The ACLU spokesperson is helping organize people to register complaints needed to have an investigation of this morning’s actions launched. A report of a 17 year old woman being thrown to the ground for no provocation other than being “too close” to an officer is consistent with the group of young women from Occupy Wall Street being pepper-sprayed and roughed up without provocation on a September 24 march which resulted in outrage throughout NYC and an expansion of support and solidarity for the actions.

Police reportedly cited six laws on the books that provoked today’s response. Along with the new and really controversial “sit-lie” law, a couple of these laws are historically controversial. The main provocation is “illegal encampment” bringing back sorry memories of the 1990’s Matrix laws during the time when homelessness had first exploded. Tents and other structures set up are not allowed on the sidewalks. Two other ones bring back memories of the Food Not Bombs controversies of that era. One cites an apparent illegality of people feeding other people in need of food in public and the other has to do with not having some kind of permit which reportedly does not exist.

One speaker reported that SEIU 1021 took a vote to announce support of Occupy SF, a refreshingly fast response for a union of this size to align with a grassroots action of this type. Occupy Oakland came across the Bay with solidarity donations.

As with Occupy Wall Street, a live stream will be put into effect tomorrow along with a working WI-FI system, because DIY media is crucial in linking together all these worldwide actions. The “call and response” type of speaking you hear on the audio is also taken from the Wall Street action. There, police prohibit speakers (and structures) or sound systems of any type. Daily General Assemblies are where decisions are made and issues communicated. The “human sound system” allows speakers to be heard well with unity.