Nearly Eighty Arrested in San Francisco During 'First Real Occupation' of 2012 | The Nation

Allison Kilkenny

Allison Kilkenny



Once the last major Occupy camps had been razed by police forces, pundits began to crow that the movement was finished. Of course, once it became clear that thesis was not grounded in reality, the professional ponderers went on to wonder aloud (and in print) if occupations would still be a major part of the group's agenda. In other words: could Occupy still be Occupy without ongoing occupations?

An Occupy Wall Street action in San Francisco of between 100 and 300 activists achieved what New York Magazine calls "one of the first real occupations of 2012" when they took over a building belonging to the city Archdiocese. (photo via @OCongress)


Police in riot gear pushing back a line of protesters outside the occupied building and throwing one young man to the ground:

San Francisco Chronicle:


George Wesolek, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the activists were wrong about the building's vacant status. The building was used for regular music classes until as recently as 18 months ago, Wesolek said. The archdiocese was also considering leasing out the building and using the revenue to help with financial aid for low-income Sacred Heart students, he said.

"This is definitely not a vacant building," Wesolek said. "It's not forgotten. It has a purpose."

It was the archdiocese that signed a citizens' arrest late Sunday night for the occupiers on charges of trespassing and graffiti.



It's difficult to track something like protest injuries because press rarely waits the twenty to seventy hours to do follow-ups with activists once they've been released from jail. Then there's the problem of protesters not wanting to speak with press because of past bad experiences, or the inherent danger of having their names appear in print, especially if they have prior records.

Unless reporters see protesters gushing blood from their heads (few injuries are so visible and immediately apparent) in the brief window they're observing events unfold, it's very likely they'll miss injuries and will certainly miss anything that happens on the way to jail or in the holding cells. 

In the meantime, police release a helpful pre-canned statement that "no one was hurt," and the press runs with that version because, you know, deadlines. 

It may have been the rush to print that accounts for the sparse coverage of photojournalist Steve Rhodes's arrest. I actually only found out about his detention because Rhodes tweeted the details himself. Upon his release, Rhodes returned to the occupation site and continued taking photos. (photo by @JoshuaHol)


"In my two years working next door and living in neighborhood, I haven't seem them used but once," tweeted @revscript.

"The long-abandoned apartments on adjacent lot are also owned by the church, kept empty while people sleep in their doorway," @akerfoot tweeted.





Now that police forces nationwide know Occupy's legacy, they will not permit an occupation like the one that existed at Zuccotti Park to gain momentum, grow and thrive. Though it was the "first real occupation" of 2012, the San Francisco occupation was quickly squashed, as was the recent effort to set up a second camp in New York City at Union Square.

This time around, the police expected Occupy.

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