“It’s a Tea Party bank”

Minneapolis, MN – Around two hundred people marched from the OccupyMN People’s Plaza to nearby TCF Bank Tower, Oct. 11. Marchers chanted “The banks got bailed out, people got sold out!” and “ho ho hey hey, make the rich pay!” The march targeted TCF Bank because the locally-based bank tries to dominate Minnesota’s economy and politics with extreme pro-corporate policies.

Bank returns money, government involvement alleged

On Friday, May 6th, the bank accounts of Hatem and Naima Abudayyeh of Chicago were frozen. The bank manager at the TCF (Twin Cities Federal) branch could not explain what had happened but stated that the Bank Security Act prevented him from releasing any assets.

Call-in campaign to Office of Foreign Assets Control announced

Chicago, IL – More information trickled out to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR) and Chicago’s Coalition for People’s Rights (CPR), May 9, about the previous week’s freezing of the Abudayyeh family’s bank accounts. The family and supporters learned that entity behind the freeze is the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Bank accounts of Hatem and Naima Abudayyeh frozen

Update: Since the publication of this article, activists have learned that the U.S. Treasury Department, not the U.S. Attorney's office, is responsible for the account freezings. See this story for more details.

Hatem Abudayyeh is a well-known Palestinian activist and who has written extensively on developments in the Middle East.