Fifteen Occupy Homes Minnesota organizers face up to two years in jail

“The Chief of Police Stepped On Me and Then He Charged Me With Rioting”: Activists Face Jail Time for Defending Homes

Fifteen Occupy Homes Minnesota organizers face up to two years in jail for peacefully linking arms outside a house when the police came to enforce a foreclosure.

http://www.alternet.org/chief-police-stepped-me-and-then-he-charged-me-rioting-activists-face-jail-time-defending-homes

The police came at four in the morning with a battering ram to the Cruz home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And that was only one of the five eviction attempts required to finally claim the home for the banks.

“After we had been peacefully occupying this house for over a month without any incidents, then they come in with a battering ram and blame us for disturbing the peace,” said Nick Espinosa, one of the organizers with Occupy Homes Minnesota, which has taken the lead in saving local families from being put out on the street.

The battering ram was just adding insult to injury—the Cruz family was being evicted through no fault of their own, because PNC bank had made a mistake in processing their payments. The Occupy Homes crew moved into the house to try and defend it while the sheriff's department came once and then twice to evict.

(More at the link.)