Man with knife attacks Occupy N.M. protesters

Last Updated 10:39 p.m. ET

Albuquerque police subdued a 48-year-old man who lunged with a knife at a group of protesters gathered Friday evening near the University of New Mexico in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

About 100 people were in the area when Miguel Aguirre - described by police as a homeless man who also was drunk - pulled out a knife and attempted to stab several protesters. No one was injured.

Police said protesters felt threatened when Aguirre held a knife with a 6- to 8-inch blade and asked, "Who wants to be first?"

CBS Affiliate KRQE reports police had to resort to using a Taser gun on the man when he refused to follow their instructions.

/ KRQE

KRQE reports Aguirre (left) claimed he has a personal connection to UNM and was just trying to protect it from the protesters camping out there, according to police. He told investigators that he had been on a drinking binge and that he felt protesters had no right to be on university property.

He told police he didn't remember pulling a knife on protesters.

Police said Aguirre will be charged with aggravated assault with deadly weapon, refusing to obey a police and other charges.

It's unclear whether Aguirre has an attorney. He was in police custody Friday night.

Aussie riot police break up Occupy protest
Complete CBS News coverage: "Occupy" protests

84 Photos

"Occupy" protests: Month 2

In other developments:

Chicago: Members of the anti-Wall Street group Occupy Chicago have reached Grant Park in their attempt to make the area the permanent home for their movement.

Protesters led a slow march from Chicago's financial district Saturday, taking more than 45 minutes to reach the park. Along the way, police on horses blocked marchers from walking on the street on Michigan Avenue, leaving them with just the sidewalks to occupy.

Police now say about 1,500 people are gathered for the protest.

A city ordinance prevents the Occupy Chicago group from camping outside the Federal Reserve Bank. Organizers say they want to make Grant Park the movement's home, but they lack permits.

Police arrested 175 people in the park last weekend after protesters set up tents at Grant Park past its public hours.

Oakland, Calif.: Hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters defiantly remained at their campsite outside Oakland's City Hall early Saturday, despite a city order to vacate.

As the 10 p.m. time of the city's ultimatum passed Friday night, Occupy Oakland demonstrators showed no signs of departing as music blasted from the plaza. More protesters arrived with tents as midnight approached.

Occupy Oakland defies vacate orders

/ WCBS

New York City: A 24-year-old Canadian was taken into police custody after he scaled a 40-foot-tall steel sculpture near the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York City. Dylan Spoelstra of Toronto climbed up into the reddish orange structure at about 6 a.m. Saturday near Zuccotti Park, and said he wasn't coming down until Mayor Michael Bloomberg resigned.

Police negotiated with him for more than two hours before he voluntarily came down at about 9:15 a.m. Officials said he was to be taken to a city hospital for a psychiatric evaluation; it's not clear whether he will face criminal charges.

A number of demonstrators expressed displeasure over the stunt, saying it was an unfortunate distraction.

Seeger, Guthrie join Occupy Wall Street rally

Seattle, Wash.: Police said a man affiliated with the Occupy Seattle protests was arrested Saturday morning when he stood in front of a patrol car and refused to move. Officers booked him for obstructing.

On Friday evening officers arrested a 39-year-old man for writing graffiti with chalk on the walls of Westlake Park. He was booked into county jail for property damage. Police have made more than 50 arrests since protesters moved into Westlake at the start of the month.

Demonstrators march in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday, October 22, 2011, as part of "Occupy Frankfurt" ("Besetzt Frankfurt").

/ AP/Martin Oeser/dapd

Frankfurt, Germany: About 4,000 people took to the streets in Frankfurt Saturday to protest the banks' dominance in what is continental Europe's financial hub, police said. Police spokeswoman Isabell Neumann said the Occupy Frankfurt protesters marched peacefully through the city.

Organizers of the protest - which is inspired by New York's Occupy Wall Street movement - said turnout was about 6,000.

Some protesters have been camping out in front of the European Central Bank's office tower in Frankfurt since a demonstration of around 5,000 there last week. Several hundred protesters criticizing banks and capitalism as a whole also took to the streets in Berlin, where about 4,000 had turned out last Saturday.

[mhteg]

Americans blame the federal government more for the nation's economic plight than they do the primary target of the Occupy Wall Street protests --- big financial institutions. If you don't know why people are protesting on wall street, this article gives a very good explanation on it.

http://explainlikeakid.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-people-are-protesting-on-wall.html

[sandiegopete]

U.S. investment banks created no doc, adjustable rate subprime mortgages. Insvestment banks created credit default swaps as a method of circumventing insurance loss reserve requirements.

In 1985 bankers from Salomon Brothers, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan met at a Palm Beach hotel and reached agreement on how credit default swaps should be handled. (Fool's Gold, Gillian Tett 2009)

The banks used AIG as the main source of credit default swaps because of its execellent credit rating. As the world's largest insurance company AIG retained hundreds of billions of dollars in loss reserves. However, none of those loss reserves could be used for indemnification of credit default swaps. All of the AIG reserves were dedicated to specific classes of insurance, such as life, property and casualty. AIG just took the money banks paid for credit default swaps and paid it's executives without retaining any loss reserve those swaps. Banks ramped up subprime loans thinking that if the loans failed they would be paid by AIG. The problem was that when they reached agreement on how credit default swaps were to be handled one of the most important agreements they made was that the swaps would be considered a financial instrument insead of insurance. That decision took regulation of the swaps away from state insurance regulators who are charged with ensuring that insurance companies keep appropriate loss reserves. Since the banks controlled the national government they directed the federal government not to regulate credit default swaps.

When those bad mortgages failed the banks expected their money from AIG. Trouble was, AIG did not have near enough money to pay off on the bad mortgages. The rationale used for the taxpayer bailout of AIG is that without the bailout the largest banks in the U.S. would fail. The banks took the taxpayer money and used it to pay huge executive bonuses, presumably to reward them for almost wrecking the economy.

Now the bankers have the money and the middle and lower classes are expected pick up more of the tab for bailing out the bankers. That is why people are upset. The whole scheme was developed by bankers as a vehicle make money whether they made good loans or bad loans and because they controlled the regulators the banks did not have to worry any governmental interference.

When those who lost money on the toxic mortgages the bankers sold as safe investments rated AAA when the banks knew the mortgages were anything but complained the banks said those people just did not do their due diligence. That is like saying Bernie Madoff should not be in jail because if people had done their due diligence they would not have lost money. The arrogance of the bankers is without limit.

[obbop]

Occupy Springfield, MO

http://usahistoryalive.wordpress.com/

[tsigili]

Anyone who camps out on the streets, is subject to the lunatics wandering the streets. No one removes the lunatics from the streets, until they actually harm others.

[RobAla]

The guy with the knife was a nutcase, and he belongs in a place where he will not be a treat to anyone. I don't know what his intent was, but if he really intended to cut someone - he would have.

As for the "occupy people", they seem to really be confused. Wall Street is not robbing the 99%. The majority of Americans have their retirements invested in Wall Street. If you want to know who is robbing America of jobs, you have no one to blame but the politicians in Washington DC. Corrupt politicians from BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES have robbed funds from the Social Security system in order to purchase goodies today for voters. These people should be prosecuted, but everyone knows that they will not be.

The idiotic health care law in 2014 will impose huge crippling expenses and regulations on business, and many business owners are having to put cash aside for that nonsense rather than hire people. Congress (including Barney Frank) pushed banks and mortgage companies to give loans to people who could not pay them back, and this led to the original mortgage collapse that began the entire economic downturn for the United States.

Massive continued unemployment, massive national debt, and international terrorism are the top three treats to citizens of the United States. I understand the frustration in this country with our horrible economy, but Wall Street is not responsible for any of these three. To the "occupy people" I say this in sincerity, your anger is misplaced.

[lexingtonlady]

Here. Here's a REAL reply. Go to the HUD website and read over the press releases from 2000 on. That is where you'll see Bush pushing his ownership society. That is where you'll learn it's bunk to pin that on one party. There are countless press releases of the Bush WH bragging on their numbers. See, this whole thing took off after 9/11 mostly. So ask yourself why you're claiming the democrats did the the most damage when your team was in charge. Since you'll pay no attention to this? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Bob0100]

Here is proof that the Democrates are all bought and paid for by unions:

Rank

Organization

Total '89-'12

Dem %

Repub %

Tilt




1

ActBlue

$55,745,059

99%

0%





2

AT&T Inc

$47,571,779

44%

55%





3

American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees

$46,167,658

94%

1%





4

National Assn of Realtors

$40,718,176

47%

49%





5

Service Employees International Union

$37,634,367

75%

2%





6

National Education Assn

$37,051,378

82%

5%





7

Goldman Sachs

$35,790,579

60%

39%





8

American Assn for Justice

$34,715,804

89%

8%





9

Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

$34,292,471

97%

2%





10

Laborers Union

$31,876,950

89%

7%





11

American Federation of Teachers

$31,681,366

91%

0%





12

Teamsters Union

$31,285,842

89%

6%





13

Carpenters & Joiners Union

$30,769,258

86%

9%





14

Communications Workers of America

$30,192,447

94%

0%





15

Citigroup Inc

$28,842,146

49%

49%





16

American Medical Assn

$27,880,935

40%

59%





17

United Auto Workers

$27,539,652

98%

0%





18

United Food & Commercial Workers Union

$27,344,608

93%

0%





19

National Auto Dealers Assn

$26,966,358

32%

67%





20

Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union

$26,879,727

98%

1%
go to http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php if you want to see the full list. The democrtates get the most money from unions, taking political donations. THEY ARE BOUGHT AND YOU CANNOT DENY IT! IF YOU DO YOU ARE IN DENILE. LOOK IT UP OR SHUT UP!

[technocoffee]

Just some drunk loser who was mad because the Occupy protesters took his drunken "pass out" space...Keep up the Occupying folks!!! The world is getting into the movement; the world's rich & selfish need to feel the threats and hatred THEY CREATED!!!!

[JonathanKent97]

TYPICAL TEA BAGGER!

[Void-Master]

by dopey_mcjohnston October 22, 2011 11:22 PM EDT

What a chicken or coward you really are.
Satan like you knows it in and out like you, satan like you also fears it's truth and what Revelations has in store for you two.

Time to go and pray for your soul.
Besides, your little game has become boring.
I'll be back to try and help you out.

***

Idiot, "Revelation" (as in the book of) is not plural. Pay attention to what you read. It does you no good otherwise.

[bikeboat]

While I don't exactly agree with the anti Wall St. protests, this drung and dangerous loonie deserves to be locked away for a very long time. Legalize pot and free up prison space for violent offenders.

[nuttyworld]

Do these people even know who is destroying this economy? Wall Street contributed more money to Obama than to any other presidential candidate. They should occupy the white house. The first jobs bill was a disaster because government can not create jobs - and don't forget Obama laughingly said that the shovel ready jobs weren't so shovel ready after all. (Anyone else see the humor in that?) Now they want another jobs bill that will put us deeper in debt and create no jobs. And look at all the money these people are costing every city they "occupy". Don't think for one minute that they will leave things in good condition. Cities will have to decrease funding in other areas in order to pay for clean up.

[BlackWallStreet10]

Many people do understand who and what is ruining the economy, but by the looks of this movement, they want it to be very broad so that they don't lock out people from feeling like they are supportive of the movement. If you start to narrowly define things, you will begin to divide people, much like the current political system.

One thing I must say though, is that they are barking up the wrong tree. They need to start with protesting at the FED, and if time permits, protest at Wall Street.

One clear signal that this movement is not exactly grassroots, or as organic as they want you to think, is that people have tried to organize protests at the FED in NY, and no one showed up. So why then, do thousands of people just pop up at Wall Street to protest? If anyone thinks these things are spontaneous and not carefully planned, they are mistaken. I think the powers that be are up to their usual tricks again. They fund and organize these "movements" so that real, true protest movements don't crop up. By funding and organizing these movements before The People can, they are basically setting the boundaries for protesting and voicing outrage at the systems, political and economic. They want to set the boundaries to a safe and family friendly setting, so that real demands for real progress and change are not heard. They are very good at it, and it is clear that is what they are doing. Otherwise this would be Occupy the FED.

[Bob0100]

Wow a comment form a sane person who has an education and commen sence. Did you hear that these protesters want 25 million more public sector jobs....that you and I will have to pay for out of taxes...and those jobs are only over paid union jobs. The gov't is 16trillion in debt...we need to peel it like an onion and eleminate departments that we do not need, not add more to them.