OCCUPY FRESNO
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2011

Fresno County Ordered to Stop Enforcing Permit Law, Arresting Protesters for Holding a Sign
Occupy Fresno won a significant legal victory in its pending suit against the County of Fresno Tuesday, when the U.S. District Court in San Francisco ordered the County and Sheriff Margaret Mimms to stop enforcing two permit laws regarding public assembly. The court, the Hon. Charles R. Breyer presiding, found the local regulations unconstitutional under the First Amendment.

County defendants were ordered to stop enforcing a regulation that requires people gathered together in groups of ten or more in Courthouse Park to obtain a permit to hold a meeting. The county and Sheriff Mimms were also enjoined from arresting, citing, or otherwise enforcing, against persons in the Park, a county regulation prohibiting people from distributing handbills and holding signs in the public space.

Because retired U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger is representing the County, the case was heard in federal court in San Francisco. At the hearing, Occupy Fresno argued that the restraining order is necessary because of “irreparable harm” to the demonstrators and the public.

“This is an irreparable harm case, because of the liberty issues,” said Robert Navarro, the lead attorney for Occupy Fresno. “It’s not the type of harm that can be paid back with money.”

The regulations are at the center of the controversy over Occupy Fresno’s presence in the park. Ninety-nine arrests of Occupy Fresno activists have taken place since November 6, when the County started demanding evacuation of the park. The demonstrators have maintained a presence there since October 9.

The County Sheriff has used the permit scheme as the basis for maintaining 24-hour surveillance of the activists, at great expense to taxpayers. With the preliminary injunction in place, the attorneys insist that Occupy Fresno’s historically peaceful assembly in Courthouse Park is entirely lawful and is an inspiring demonstration of civic responsibility and engaged political awareness. According to Navarro, “Any further intrusive and intimidating presence of law enforcement officers monitoring and surveilling peaceful and lawful activities in the Park is entirely unwarranted. It is now time for the Sheriff’s deputies to disperse.”

The County continues to demand that protesters leave Courthouse Park at midnight. While the federal court declined to restrain the County from enforcing a regulation on park closure from midnight to 6 a.m. each day, the issue remains in the case, which is expected to go trial next summer.

Occupy Fresno participants point out that they tried to comply with the permit scheme in which permits to stay overnight in the park are allowed by local laws. But the County refused Occupy Fresno’s request for an overnight permit. Rather than suggest conditions, the County decided instead to arrest the peaceful protesters on a repeated basis.

The federal court found that there was ample opportunity for Occupy Fresno to continue its vigil by moving to city sidewalks at midnight, but under new regulations being considered by the city on Wednesday, the sidewalks may also be closed to the public at night.

Occupy Fresno meets in the park to discuss the issues of the day. Its public presence is “expressive conduct,” under the First Amendment and is performed in solidarity with the other Occupy groups located in cities around the U.S. and the world. Their presence is a sign to the public and an ongoing invitation to mobilize as a community for solutions to economic inequality.

OCCUPY FRESNO

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Occupy Fresno Wants to ‘Increase the Peace,’ While Lawsuit Moves Forward

Occupy Fresno is pursuing its federal lawsuit as to First Amendment liberties and Fresno County’s ongoing decisions regarding public gatherings in Courthouse Park.  While the lawsuit moves forward, Occupy Fresno also wants to “increase the peace,” says activist Michael Becker, professor of political science at Cal State University Fresno.

According to Becker, Occupy Fresno’s attorneys are in talks with Fresno County to obtain a “stand-still agreement” or temporary “peace agreement,” that will lead to a more peaceful atmosphere in the Courthouse Park, while Fresno County prepares its brief on the constitutional issues.

As of late Friday, Occupy Fresno and Fresno County were working with U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, to hammer out a schedule for writing briefs and hold hearings in the lawsuit.   Attorneys for Fresno County were not available to meet with Occupy Fresno on Friday, but said they plan an internal meeting Monday, Nov. 21, to discuss the temporary agreement regarding the daily arrests.

Because the agreement was not reached Friday, there were more arrests over the weekend of peaceful protesters.

Occupy Fresno wants an early hearing because of the risks of harm, while Fresno County is seeking more time for briefing. Lead attorney for Occupy Fresno, Robert Navarro, said, “this is an irreparable harm case, because of the liberty issues. It’s not the type of harm that can be paid back with money.”

Occupy Fresno does not object to Fresno County having more time to prepare its case.  However, “because of the ongoing risks of harm, Occupy Fresno wants the County to come the table.” Navarro said. “Let’s reach an agreement regarding the daily arrests of peaceful protesters at the 24-hour vigil, while the County puts together its case.”

Occupy Fresno points out that the truce will increase the peacefulness of relations between the two sides, as well as lower costs for everyone. “Let’s all get along while the legal matters are being written up,” says Navarro.

The County continues to demand that protesters leave Courthouse Park and argues that the police presence is costly. However, Navarro says, “Staying at vigil is a constitutional liberty. Occupy Fresno would not be able to recover money damages for its loss of liberties, were it to give up. Civil liberties cannot be bought and sold in the marketplace,” Navarro explained.

Under Title 13 of the Fresno County Code of Ordinances, permits to stay overnight in the park are allowed, but Fresno County refused Occupy Fresno’s request for a permit to do so, opting instead to arrest peaceful protesters at great expense to the taxpayers.

Occupy Fresno meets in the park to discuss the issues of the day. The presence of Occupy Fresno in the park is expressive conduct, performed in solidarity with all of the other Occupy groups in cities around the world. The presence is a signal to the public that there is an ongoing need to work toward peaceful resolutions to economic inequality.

“Arresting peaceful protesters who gather in a public park is a sure-fire way to change the topic and to chill First Amendment liberties,” said First Amendment expert, Elizabeth E. Martinez, who is a sociology professor at Fresno Pacific University.

November 14, 2011

Occupy Fresno

Press Release

Today, Occupy Fresno filed a lawsuit in the federal court challenging the violations of civil liberties and First Amendment rights by Fresno County. The members of Occupy Fresno have chosen Courthouse Park, a public space maintained by taxpayer monies, as the venue in which to peaceably assemble and petition our government for a redress of grievances. This right is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution.

Included in the lawsuit filed today by Occupy Fresno is an application for a temporary restraining order against Fresno County, prohibiting them from further unlawful enforcement of its permit system regarding the use of Courthouse Park.

In the application and enforcement of local ordinances pertaining to Courthouse Park, Fresno County has consistently denied the citizens of Fresno and Fresno County wishing to join in the Occupy movement the ability to exercise their First Amendment rights. The ferocity with which Fresno County has enforced the ordinances pertaining to Courthouse Park is unacceptable. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Department has arrested members of Occupy Fresno, and others wishing to stand up for their First Amendment rights, every day since November 6, 2011. In addition, they have consistently squandered taxpayer monies by maintaining a twenty-four hour presence in Courthouse Park since this date. The members of Occupy Fresno are, have been, and shall remain peaceful in our actions. However, as citizens of these United States, under the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Occupy Fresno will maintain our presence in Courthouse Park; we are not leaving. Through acts of Civil disobedience we will continue to resist the illegal enforcement of unjust laws against our liberties and our persons.

The Occupy movement is a movement of national and international prominence. The Occupy movement, which began on September 17, 2011 in front of Wall Street in New York City, New York, began as a gathering of people who felt wronged by their government. In the following months the Occupy movement spread across the nation, to hundreds of cities, bringing tens of thousands of people together for a common cause. As times have grown more and more desperate, The Occupy movement has offered the hundreds of thousands of American citizens displaced by our economic crisis a new home. Occupy movements maintain a twenty-four hour daily occupation of local cities because these times are desperate. The corporatocracy that controls this country has secured a stranglehold on our system, and our way of life. Occupy exists out of the sheer desperation of people who no longer have a voice.  The movement has since provided a venue for the people of these United States to stand together in solidarity with one another, to join their voices in a truly democratic process, to join their dismay with the current system into a cohesive voice with which to petition their government for a redress of their grievances.

It is in this spirit Occupy Fresno was born. As a member of the national and international Occupy movement, Occupy Fresno will not leave until our national objectives have been met. Occupy Fresno will not be deterred by arrests, or by ordinances restricting our rights as citizens; Occupy Fresno will not be suffocated by Fresno County Sheriff Deputies; Occupy Fresno will not leave. We will exist as long as the national Occupy movement exists.

Note: Not sure what happened with livestream, we were streaming live until the battery died toward the end. Not sure why no video was posted?

As citizens of Fresno, Fresno County, and the surrounding communities, we have joined our voices together in Courthouse Park with the intention being a part of the Occupy movement. We stand in solidarity with the men and women occupying Zuccotti Park, near Wall Street, in New York City. As of Sunday, October 9th, the first official general assembly of Occupy Fresno has convened. We are workers and business owners, students and teachers, veterans, volunteers, and other dedicated members of our society; we are the 99%. Coming from the heart of this movement, we would like to adopt the introduction of the “Declaration of the Occupation”, as presented by the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street, as our statement of purpose:

“As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the [economic and] political forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.”

We plan to be here as long as it takes to have our message heard. We will work in cooperation with the surrounding community, and we encourage any members of that community to join us. If you would like to learn more, visit our website at occupyfresnoca.com or join us on facebook, twitter, or tumbler.

Thank you.

#occupyfresno