Occupy Portland protesters defy eviction order in Oregon

Protesters celebrate winning the battle to stay in the Occupy Portland Camp with hugs, cake and milk in Portland, Ore., Sunday, Nov. 13. The city set a 12:01 am deadline for the protesters to vacate but backed down after thousands of protesters showed up.
City officials around the country continue to skirmish with "occupy" protesters. Portland, Oregon, set Sunday deadline for protesters to vacate but backed down after thousands showed up.
Anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters flooded a city park area in Portland early Sunday in defiance of an eviction order, and authorities elsewhere stepped up pressure against the demonstrators, arresting nearly two dozen.Crowds converged on two adjacent downtown Portland parks where protesters decrying economic injustice are camped after city officials set a midnight Saturday deadline to disperse. Hours later, protesters remained though by dawn Sunday the crowd had thinned and obeyed police orders to clear the street.
At one point overnight, the crowd swelled to thousands.
Organizers said they hoped enough people will join them to make it difficult if not impossible for police to carry through on any eviction.Occupy the street," one organizer said through a bull horn. "Remain peaceful and aware. We have strength in holding the streets."
Demonstrators had used pallets and old furniture, wood debris and even a bicycle to set up makeshift barricades on either end of a street that runs through the encampment, apparently in an attempt to block traffic. The barricades later were taken down by protesters.
The eviction notices come as officials across the country urged an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire.
Demands for Oakland protesters to pack up increased after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the encampment site.
Your activities are injurious to health, obstruct the free use of property, interfering with the comfortable enjoyment of (Frank Ogawa Plaza), and unlawfully obstruct the free passage or use of a public park or square," the notice read.Oakland officials first issued the eviction notice Friday after first pleading with protesters to leave the encampment.
Police officials have said a preliminary investigation suggested the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the encampment. Investigators do not know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but protesters said there was no connection between the shooting and the camp.
The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-old military veteran apparently committed suicide in a tent at a Burlington, Vt., Occupy encampment. Police said a preliminary investigation showed the veteran fatally shot himself in the head. They said the death raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue.
In San Francisco, violence marked the protest Saturday where police said two demonstrators attacked two police officers in separate incidents during a march. Police spokesman Carlos Manfredi said a protester slashed an officer's hand with a pen knife while another protester shoved an officer, causing facial cuts. He said neither officer was seriously hurt, and the assailants couldn't be located.
Associated Press writers Terry Collins in Oakland, Josh Loftin in Salt Lake City, Jim Anderson in Denver and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Source URL: https://girls-bravo.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-portland-protesters-defy.html
Visit girls bravo for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection