#occupykst

"Today, Occupy K St./DC took over the empty, city-owned Franklin School. The school was closed several years ago and was initial reopened as a homeless shelter. The city government later closed the shelter and -- despite widespread public opposition -- announced plans to turn the building either into condos or a hotel for the 1% lobbyists on K St.

Dozens of occupiers entered the building with sleeping bags and announced their intention to stay indefinitely. From the roof, occupiers chanted "We are the 99%!" as others dropped a banner over the school. Meanwhile, hundreds rallied in support outside.

See below for more about the Franklin School occupation, as well as information about other Occupy movements taking over space for the 99%.

Police -- including the Metropolitan Police and federal Protective Services -- responded with full force. Up to 70 police vehicles were spotted. They blocked all of 13th St and declared the area a "crime scene." Police then moved into the building and arrested all inside, carrying out people who were cuffed at the arms and legs. Some protesters banged on the police vans from inside and outside, while others tried to block the vehicles altogether. Police declared they would charge all those inside with unlawful entry, and threatened others with felony charges if they interfered.

What: March in Solidarity with people in Egypt When: Saturday November 19th, Noon Where: Meet at OccupyDC, McPherson Square, 15th and K Streets NW – We will be joining the march that is departing Freedom Plaza once they arrive at McPherson

Saturday November 19th at 12:00pm OccupyDC protesters will join forces with local Egyptian activists in a teach-in and march to the Egyptian Defense Office (2590 L St NW).  Giving public money to the Egyptian military is unacceptable given the evidence of human rights violations perpetrated by the Egyptian military junta that currently controls Egypt.

The United States gave 1.3 billion dollars in military aid to Egypt in 2010, and similar aid will flow to the regime this year.  Much of the money sent to Egypt is used to purchase tanks, jets, and helicopters from U.S. defense contractors like General Dynamics Corp, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.  The military-industrial complex joins Wall Street gambling as the lifeblood of economic exploitation by the 1%.

As many know, the Egyptian citizens’ popular resistance movement toppled former Egyptian President Mubarak and inspired millions across the world, including the occupy movement in the United States.  Unfortunately, there is evidence that the military junta is repressing, detaining, torturing, and even killing the very Egyptians who ejected Mubarak.

Celebrate the two month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement!

Join in a Labor-Community-Occupy Day of Action this Thursday, November 17th. Activities include a teach-in on the decay of the abandoned public education system and a protest of other deteriorating public infrastructure. It’ll be a full afternoon of teach-in and marching!

12pm Noon –  Teach-in Rally on Education, Jobs, and Infrastructure

The Washington Teachers’ Union and American Federation of Teachers are hosting a Teach-In for Occupy D.C. in McPherson Square focusing on public education reform, the firings of D.C.’s teachers and outdated infrastructure in our schools. The Teach-In will also cover the history of the labor movement including the right to protest.

2:30pm - March on the Key Bridge in Georgetown in protest of the deterioration of our public infrastructure and public services.

Occupiers, community members and unionists will be marching From McPherson Square to the Key Bridge in solidarity with OurDC, and other labor organizations. We will call on Congress to create jobs, stop cuts, and make Wall Street banks pay. The gap between the 1% and the 99% continues to grow. But instead of creating jobs, Congress continues to ignore the concerns of the 99%, and focuses on job-killing budget cuts and tax giveaways for the rich. In Washington, the structurally deficient Key Bridge is a vivid example of the many roads, schools and other infrastructure sites in need of repair.

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few weeks. A lot has been going on in our lives in addition to the Occupy Wall Street happenings in the past few days. This tumblr page will be handled a bit differently with more pertinent updates dealing with the movement. Can't promise that we'll be updating every hour of the day, but we'll try our best.

Join us and National Nurses United for an International Day of Action:

Thu, November 3, 11:30am – 2:30pm

Occupy G-20. They will be marching at 11:30am from Lafayette Square but will be coming to McPherson Square to pick up folks along the way. So either meet at 11:30 at Lafayette Square, or before 12:00pm at McPherson Square. Please check out the flyer for more information. Flyer: http://nurses.3cdn.net/01e9d6d4e79e648625_u0m6bgfzy.pdf

Follow the Money $$$

Friday November 4th 2011 6PM - McPherson Square Join OccupyDC as we undertake an action against the "Defending the American Dream Summit" conference funded by the Koch Brothers.

This self-identified grassroots summit is anything but grassroots. In fact it is almost entirely funded by Koch Industries affiliated Americans for Prosperity. Speakers will include a who's who of the most extreme anti-science political leaders and far right ideologues in our society.

They are pro-bank, pro-big business and overwhelmingly anti-99%. Their policies range from denying climate change and spitting vitriol at disenfranchised minorities to supporting union busting and tax breaks for the wealthiest of the wealthy. But lucky for us, for one night - they along with two of their presidential candidates will be here in Washington, DC.

WHAT: March to the Justice Department against police violence. WHEN: Wednesday 1/2/11, 4pm WHERE: McPherson Square, 15th and K St. NW WHY: In solidarity with occupations that have been attacked by police all over the United States and after Occupy Oakland’s call for a general strike and mass actions in the wake of police attacks that left one occupier hospitalized with serious injuries.