Occupy protesters sleep-out on Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street protesters relax in a small encampment across the street from the New York Stock in New York, Thursday, April 12, 2012. / AP Photo/Seth Wenig

(AP) NEW YORK - Occupy demonstrators have a new tactic: They are sleeping on the sidewalks of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange.

Spokesman Karanja Gacuca says protesters have been sleeping in front of banks in lower Manhattan for several days. The protesters were evicted from their original encampment last November.

Gacuca says the sleep-out is simply one more tactic activists are employing to highlight the issue of income inequality.

Attorney Gideon Orion Oliver says protesters are protected from arrest by a 2000 court decision that allows sleeping on sidewalks to express political views.

He says the sleep-outs could be limited if authorities determine the conduct is incompatible with the public space.

The Occupy movement came together with an encampment at Zuccotti Park last year, inspiring groups across the country.

[MMaven]

We all need to select a weekend to go out and protest together as a show of strength. There is only a handful that are doing this and all they ever do is get fake publicity that they are not really protestors or are getting paid by someone to do this. There are actually people that believe this nonsense. Most of us are fed up with what fuels this society and don't share in the mindset of the wealthy.

[raymailhot]

I read last week Plymouth Michigan had a "Tea Party" event with more people than what we see here. Having surveyed the aftermath it was much cleaner and yet no media attention. The media only likes the filthy people of the OWS?

[OWS-is-not-wrong]

@stormerF69

"rich and poor have the right to make what ever they can and keep what ever they make"

This appears to no longer be a right in our society, which is one of the points driving the OWS protesters. I have a family member who almost lost her home because a bank's representative held her cashier's check payments, stopped sending a monthly statement, and the bank then moved to foreclose saying she had not made her latest payments...after hiring two different attorneys and appearing in court before a federal judge with her second attorney and the bank's attorney, the bank finally admitted she was not in arrears on her payments and the judge signed an order ordering the bank to reset its records to show this...two weeks after the judge signed the order the bank sent another foreclosure letter, the bank's representative now saying that the bank's Loss Mitigation Department disagreed with the Judge's Order. If a Department of Justice attorney had not intervened at this point -- based on the Judge's Order and other court documents -- and contacted the bank, who decided, suddenly, they had made a mistake in trying to foreclose, this family member who had made all of her payments would now be homeless...at this point in our history it does appear that only Americans wealthy enough to afford private attorneys have the probability of "keeping what ever they make."

[OWS-is-not-wrong]

@agentzer007,

I don't know if you are still paying attention to this thread. I have been engaged with a military operation for the last two days and have not have time to look back at this -- if you've been in the military, you will probably understand.

In answer to your question, the cashier's checks were a recommendation of the first attorney hired. The bank had placed an escrow on the mortgage once it bought the servicing rights, which increased the monthly payment amount by $200 -- this despite that fact that the mortgage contract had a waiver of escrow, and the money the bank was collecting in the escrow was never used for anything, just kept by the bank. Because there was a waiver of escrow, my family member has always paid for taxes and insurance. The attorney was hired after the end of the year passed and the escrow money was kept, and the qualified written request asking for an explanation of the escrow had gone unanswered -- this was sent in 2008, and though it is supposed to be answered within sixty days it has never been answered. The attorney did not trust the bank representatives he was dealing with on behalf of my family member, and the cashier's checks turned out to be an invaluably good idea in terms of my family member keeping her house. If you suspect a bank is not dealing fairly with you, and you continue to send personal checks, you have very little proof you have sent your payments if the bank decides to hold your checks and not credit your account. If cashier's checks are gotten from a bank where you are an account holder, that bank can at any time, on request, produce images of the checks which shows the amount, who they are made out to, and the remitter, along with information on whether or not the check was cleared. Once my family member entered court these check images were invaluable in her being able to keep her house. Also, after the Judge's Order was signed but ignored and a Dept. of Justice attorney became actively involved with the details of her case, the bank credited the ecrow money it had kept for several years back to her account.

I hope this is a satisfactory answer to your question. I do not know if you are an attorney, but if you ever in a situiation like my family member was, I suspect the legal advice you may be given will be different from the advice you give here. I still contend that it is mainly people wealthy enough to hire private attorneys who will best be able to "keep what evern they have."

[JeffMark59]

aving been evicted from our downtown park, I see they are camped out on the sidewalk across from Busch Stadium for the home opener. You know, a squirt of rubbing alcohol plus a flicked match, walking by, equals no more occupy tent on sidewalk. Just a thought. Not a crime to just think, you know.

[credibility2]

Time to bring out the street sweepers and other heavy equipment to remove all of the trash from the streets and sidewalks and dump the trash where it belongs.

[hypnotoad72]

Yup.

Your back yard.

Oh, I'm sure some of them really are gutter trash, but many of them are responding to the issues that many people have brought up around here.

[erichsh]

I see the flies and mosquitoes are not the only pests that come to life with the arrival of spring.

[bejesuswindmills]

Patriots. they believe that we did not Fight in vain yet. I do mean the battles for independence they are just trying to Bring back the common Law of thinking

[stormerF69]

Google,, you have the right to work mixed up with the want to be taken care of.Both rich and poor have the right to make what ever they can and keep what ever they make with out giving it to someone who makes bad choices,in the name of equality.