California State University, Northridge
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
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Volume 53 Issue 53 • A financially Independent student newspaper
NEWS
OPINION
When is it time for Occupy L.A. to call it night? p. 2
Students need more college preparation p. 5
SPORTS Women’s basketball matches last season’s win total p. 7
Police and protesters
standoff
Los Angeles still occupied ken scarboro/ editor in chief
Protesters and police face-off on First Street at nearly 5:00 a.m. Monday. Police promised they would not make arrests inside the camp, requesting protesters clear the streets.
Thousands of demonstrators converge on City Hall Park, stopping LAPD’s scheduled eviction of the tent city ashley Soley-Cerro Live News Editor
D
espite an eviction deadline of Monday at 12:01 a.m., Occupy L.A.’s encampment on City Hall lawn is still standing. The protesters, who have occupied the lawn for almost two months, filed a court order Monday morning requesting occupiers be allowed to continue camping. The court order, filed after protesters were not removed from City Hall lawn, noted that the defendants are in violation of the First and 14th Amendments by approving of the Occupy presence for 56
days then suddenly, and randomly, requesting they leave. The City of Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck were named as the defendants. Five occupiers filed the order. When the 12:01 a.m. eviction deadline passed, over a thousand occupiers began protesting in the streets surrounding City Hall. Although protesters were peaceful, with many people sleeping in the streets or chanting, tensions were high as LAPD officers holding batons blocked off streets surrounding the protest. More than a thousand protesters converged on the site to stop police from closing the encampment. Pro-
testers ranged from students to veterans, religious leaders to lawyers. Most protesters agreed Occupy L.A.’s purpose is to get corporate greed and money out of politics, although many people had additional reasons for being there, such as LGBT rights or the high unemployment rate. Susan Hartley, an employment law attorney who works with Veterans for Peace Los Angeles, stood in the intersection of First and Main streets waving a flag with a peace sign on it until the dispersal order was given. “The whole country’s gone nuts, greed controls everything,” she said. “Like any revolution in history, including the American
Revolution, no one knew what was going to happen in the beginning, and same goes for this one.” Hartley said the protesters’ message is specific: “Why bail out banks and not people?” For over four hours, police officers slowly moved in on protesters, trying to force them off the streets surrounding the park. At around 3:20 a.m., LAPD announced they would not raid the encampment but rather wanted everyone off the streets. Clark Davis, Occupy L.A. media coordinator, and Commander Andrew Smith, LAPD spokesman, began asking people to move back to the lawn. “Although peaceful, it’s not
a sustainable piece of property,” Smith said. When asked where protesters could find sustainable property that could be occupied safely, Smith deferred the question by repeatedly saying the current situation could not continue. A dispersal order was given over a loudspeaker at 4:53 a.m., and the streets were cleared by 5:10 a.m. Four people were arrested for refusing to leave the street. Protesters lining the sidewalk around City Hall faced off with police officers standing on First Street. Demonstrators chanted “Who’s blocking traffic now?”
See occupy page 4