Thursday, November 3, 2011

Latest developments in the global Occupy protests

Some of the latest developments in the Occupy protests taking place in cities across the world:

UNITED STATES

CALIFORNIA

The roommate of an Iraq War veteran seriously injured in a clash with police during an anti-Wall Street protest says Scott Olsen is doing well and doctors say he'll make a full recovery. Keith Shannon served with the 24-year-old former Marine in Iraq.

Shannon tells The Associated Press that he visited Olsen at a medical facility Sunday and he "seems to be doing well." Shannon says Olsen still can't talk but doctors expect him to make a full recovery. Olsen suffered a fractured skull and other head injuries during the clash last week. Police are investigating how Olsen was struck by a projectile.

NEW YORK

In New York City, an Occupy Wall Street demonstrator videotaped in a police altercation met with prosecutors Monday to discuss the incident. Felix Rivera-Pitre wants prosecutors to bring assault charges against Deputy Inspector Johnny Cardona.

Attorney Ronald Kuby said prosecutors didn't say whether they planned to do so after the meeting. He said they indicated the investigation would continue for a few weeks.

Demonstrators are trying to trademark the phrase "Occupy Wall Street." Leaders of the protesters in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park filed an application Oct. 24 to trademark the name of their movement with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, one of their attorneys said Monday. The filing was a defensive move to make sure other people not affiliated with Occupy Wall Street don't try to use the name, he said. An Arizona-based company and a couple from West Islip, N.Y., also have filed Occupy Wall Street trademark applications.

Upstate, two Occupy Rochester protesters were ticketed Monday for violating city ordinances at a park where 32 demonstrators were rounded up on trespassing charges three nights earlier.

Those are the first arrests in upstate New York's major cities among supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Some protesters said they believed officials issued the arrests with the intention of trying to break apart the city's demonstration. But Mayor Thomas Richards said the arrests weren't a punitive response. Rather, he said, the arrests were designed to prevent confrontations over health and safety concerns that have cropped up in other cities around the country.

OREGON

Occupy Portland protesters expanded their encampment Monday into a third park ? this one on federal property ? as activist filmmaker Michael Moore dropped by to praise the demonstrators' efforts. The Oregonian reported that the protesters' spillover from two city park squares into Terry Schrunk Plaza grew from four tents early Monday to about 15 tents by late Monday night.

Federal officials indicated earlier in the day they wouldn't allow an encampment similar to the one Occupy Portland has set up in two neighboring city parks.

PENNSYLVANIA

A $50 million makeover of Dilworth Plaza, headquarters of Occupy Philly, is to begin this month, but it is unclear whether the protesters will relocate. Plans call for an ice-skating rink and a caf? at the site near city hall. Mayor Michael Nutter and several city officials met with Occupy Philly representatives Sunday to discuss health issues, public safety and the group's possible relocation.

RHODE ISLAND

Providence officials said they would not immediately begin legal proceedings against protesters who defied a weekend deadline to dismantle their tents and leave a public park where they have been camping. Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Pare said city lawyers are drawing up a complaint and consulting with a local attorney who has come forward on behalf of the protesters.

But Providence won't follow the actions of other cities, including Atlanta and Oakland, Calif., where there have been widespread arrests and even some violent clashes with police seeking to clear encampments, Mayor Angel Taveras said.

TENNESSEE

Tennessee officials agreed Monday to stop enforcing a new curfew used to dislodge Occupy Nashville protesters from the grounds around the Capitol.

The protesters went to federal court seeking a temporary restraining order against Gov. Bill Haslam, arguing the curfew and arrests of dozens of supporters violated their rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.

State Attorney General's Office Senior Counsel Bill Marett announced at the beginning of a hearing before Judge Aleta Trauger that the state would not fight efforts to halt the policy.

The judge said she had already decided to grant the restraining order because the curfew was a "clear prior restraint on free speech rights."

EUROPE

ENGLAND

The City of London Corporation on Tuesday is expected to hand a letter to Occupy protesters outside St. Paul's Cathedral giving them 48 hours to clear their camp or face eviction.

Both church and city authorities are taking action to remove the tent camp, which forced the closure of the cathedral for a week on health and safety grounds.

On Monday, the cathedral's dean quit, saying that he felt his position had become untenable as criticism of the cathedral mounted in the media and in public opinion. Graeme Knowles had urged protesters to leave the cathedral area to allow it to reopen its doors.

He was the third church official to resign over the issue in the past two weeks.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-01-Occupy-Glance/id-d6119c4118f9495cbb0f9910a6753e8e

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