OCCUPY SAN ANTONIO TO PROTEST COUNTY CHARGES IN RESCHEDULED PRE-TRIAL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2012
10:00 A.M.
CONTACT: OCCUPY SAN ANTONIO
Kris Wettstein, Political Outreach Committee
(832) 771 6889, khwettstein@gmail.com
Group stands in solidarity with members it believes to be wrongfully charged
Occupy San Antonio will be demonstrating outside the Bexar County Courthouse located on 100 Dolorosa on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, at 8:45 A.M. The group opposes the arrest of some of its members during the December eviction from HemisFair Park, and the charges brought against them at that time. The charges include camping, interference with the duties of a public servant, and criminal trespass. Two of the arrested members, Robin Canter and Kris Wettstein, will be appearing in court on Wednesday for a rescheduled pre-trial. Their pre-trial was rescheduled after the prosecution asked for an additional two weeks to consider the case and consult with his superiors.
Occupy San Antonio believes these charges lack merit and are meant solely to intimidate the protesters. The City of San Antonio recently dropped the municipal charge of camping after the protestors refused to consider a plea bargain. Kris Wettstein and Robin Canter will be maintaining their innocence on Wednesday. They will be facing the charge of interference with the duties of a public servant.
The pre-trial will begin at 9:00 A.M. in County Court 9.
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Occupy San Antonio, www.occupysa.net is a leaderless resistance movement, born out of solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, made up of people of many colors, genders, and political persuasions. The one thing that all have in common is being part of the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the top 1%. Inspired by the revolutionary Arab Spring and using the power of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants, this Occupy movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up.
OCCUPY SAN ANTONIO TO MARCH AND RALLY IN CELEBRATION OF RE-OCCUPATION
Group to commemorate its renewed physical occupation in HemisFair Park with a St. Patrick’s Day march, and with speakers, musicians, and family activities
| Occupy San Antonio will be marching from Travis Park (300 E Travis St) to the S. Alamo entrance of HemisFair Park on Saturday, March 17th at 1:00pm. The march will be in protest of disproportionate corporate influence in the political process, and will have a St. Patrick’s Day theme. Just as St. Patrick drove the serpents out of Ireland, the Occupy movement hopes to rid our democracy of the scourges of moneyed interests. The march will culminate at Hemisfair Park, where there will be a rally with food, musicians, speakers, and family activities to affirm the mission and vitality of the movement.
Occupy San Antonio will be re-occupying the park in solidarity with Occupy chapters all over the nation who will be staging similar operations. Occupy San Antonio protested continually in HemisFair park from October 6th through December 30th. On December 19th, park police ordered occupiers to leave and arrested those that remained protesting. Police seized and disposed of tables, signs, artwork for sale, and other items that the movement had used to sustain its mission. In the days that followed it became increasingly difficult for the group to maintain a 24-hour occupation due to the winter weather and the fear of arrest. The celebration will mark the start of a new continual protest. |
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Occupy San Antonio, www.occupysa.net is a leaderless resistance movement, born out of solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, made up of people of many colors, genders, and political persuasions. The one thing that all have in common is being part of the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the top 1%. Inspired by the revolutionary Arab Spring and using the power of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants, this Occupy movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up.
After Ticketing Occupy San Antonio for ‘Camping’, Police Settle Down for an On-Duty Nap
December 21, 2011, San Antonio — As you may know, the occupiers at Hemisfair Park have come under fire for allegedly violating a no camping ordinance. Even though the occupation is a twenty-four hour endeavor, falling asleep will quickly earn us a Park Police officer shining a light in our eyes, ticket book at the ready to deliver a costly citation. However, there seems to be quite a double standard. Last night our occupiers came across a police officer in his car in Hemisfair Park violating the no camping ordinance himself. He was fast asleep–so asleep, in fact, that the flash from our cameras did not wake him up. It took a fellow officer tapping his window with his flashlight to rouse him from his long winter’s nap. Of course, the officer did not recieve a citation for this dereliction of duty.
On the other hand, we do not wish to be overly harsh. The Park Police have long been overworked and underpaid. They are also part of the 99%, and part of the reason we protest. In that regard, we at Occupy San Antonio feel it necessary to bring attention to this very important issue. Park Police have been treated very unfairly by the city, and despite their current attitude of hostitlity toward our protest we still feel that had this officer been afforded the union coverage that is available to the SAPD this individual might not have been overworked to the point of needing to camp in a public space during his on duty hours.
Occupy San Antonio
OCCUPY SAN ANTONIO TO DONATE TO BLUE SANTA
Group believes in efforts of the San Antonio Police Department’s program despite strained relationship Occupy San Antonio will be donating toys collected by the group to the Blue Santa Program. The Blue Santa Program is a project of the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) that works to collect and deliver donations of toys and food to underprivileged families who might otherwise go without during the holiday season. Occupy San Antonio fully supports the efforts of the SAPD’s Blue Santa Program and had been collecting toys for donation at their headquarters located at Hemisfair Park since December 15th.
Occupy San Antonio had a respectful working relationship with the SAPD and the Park Police. The relationship and the Occupiers were described by Park Police Commander Steven Baum as “real good,” saying that the Occupiers “have been very orderly, very compliant.” “They don’t disrupt traffic; they don’t disrupt any events here.” “When there’s an event, [they] respect the rights of others” and that he had “nothing but praise” for the Occupiers and their conduct.
The “real good” relationship became strained when officers were abruptly given orders to clear out the park where Occupy San Antonio has been based for nearly three months. By the end of Monday December 19th, a total of seven arrests had taken place. During that process, along with people’s personal belongings, the donation bin for the department’s own Blue Santa Program was thrown into a dumpster, along with all the donations inside. Occupiers were able to salvage some of the items, but not all. The group had planned to continue to collect items, but do not want to risk the items being thrown away again. The few toys that were saved, along with any additional items collected, will be taken to the police department for donation.
At 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 22, 2011, members of Occupy San Antonio will march from Hemisfair Park (South Alamo Gateway) to the police station on 515 S. Frio to deliver the remaining donated toys.
All quotes attributed to Park Police Commander Steven Baum can be found here:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Occupy-S-A-and-city-get-along-2266552.php
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Occupy-S-A-group-averts-arrests-makes-room-for-2257841.php
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Protesters-nudged-from-park-by-the-city-2410051.php ###
Occupy San Antonio, www.occupysatx.com, is a leaderless resistance movement, born out of solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, made up of people of many colors, genders, and political persuasions. The one thing that all have in common is being part of the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the top 1%. Inspired by the revolutionary Arab Spring and using the power of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants, this Occupy movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up.
We are the democratic General Assembly of Occupy San Antonio
We are your neighbors, your friends, your colleagues, your loved ones. We are the 99%, and we have had enough. The wealth inequality in America has become unsustainable. The top 1% control a disproportionate amount of the wealth and power. They have used that wealth to purchase our elected officials. This was never part of the American Dream.
Wall Street and the banks made risky investments, and as a result the American economy collapsed. Unemployment skyrocketed, as did home foreclosures, and the poverty rate. Throughout all of this, even when the American Government stepped in and rescued the banks at the expense of the American Taxpayer, corporate profits and CEO pay has never been better. They wreck our economy and they profit from it; meanwhile they continue to lay off workers and hesitate to loan money to small businesses.
Now in our time of need, Congress is debating what social safety net programs and regulatory agencies should have their budgets slashed. In the same breath they call for lower corporate taxes and lower taxes for the rich, claiming it will improve jobs and the economy. It is clear where their allegiances lie, and it is obviously not with the 99% of the populace. We are not being represented. We have occupied HemisFair Park since the 6th of October. We stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together protesters across the country and the world. Together we can make a difference.
We stand in solidarity with all groups who are peacefully fighting for people’s, civic, and employee rights, and reaching out to all communities regardless of political stance. We stand together with millions across the world against the evils of the greedy corporations, banks, and the governments corrupted by them.
What are we doing locally to promote change?
We are going to our local businesses and asking for them to support our movement. In turn we will pay it forward and promote these businesses to stimulate our local economy. We are tired of feeding giant corporations our money, while they in turn send jobs overseas. We will be compiling lists of local banks, credit unions, restaurants, grocery stores, and supply stores for our occupiers and any who believe in change to utilize. We will be instituting an Occupy program for restaurants where we will pick a time and day when our occupiers can go patronize there location as a group. We are all for small business. We have received support from our many local businesses in the form of allowing us to leave our fliers in their businesses and by occasionally giving supplies to our cause. We are fighting to take back control of our government from special interest groups and corporations, but we cannot do it alone. We need the help of our local community.
We also urge all people to close their accounts with the major banks, and move to small local banks and credit unions. The big banks gamble with all of our money, and they must be held accountable for their crimes. The greatest punishment would be to cease all business with them.
On October 15th we will march on and rally at the Alamo starting at noon, an estimated 1,500 occupy(location)’s will be doing performing marches, rallies, or starting occupations protest of there own. We stand with all of those would try to peacefully effect positive change on this world for its people,
For full information on the occupy movements nation and world wide.
Face book: Occupy San Antonio
Twitter: @Occupysananton
www.occupywallst.org
Declaration of Occupation: http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-of-the-occupation-of-new-york-city/
Disclaimer: Any statement not endorsed by the democratic general assembly of Occupy San Antonio did not come from us as a whole and is only a statement of an individual and may not reflect the thoughts or consensus of the whole.
