Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement urging support for Occupy Minneapolis.

Los Angeles, CA – Mayor Villaraigosa set a 12:01 a.m. Monday deadline for occupiers to end the massive 400 tent encampment that is surrounding City Hall. Participants in the occupation vow to remain and more have joined the occupation, this evening, Nov. 27.

St. Paul, MN – The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Hennepin County, Nov. 22 on behalf of Occupy Minneapolis. The lawsuit argues that the county’s new restrictions on the OccupyMPLS unconstitutionally restrict the demonstrators’ free speech rights. OccupyMPLS has been continuously occupying the Hennepin County Government Center Plaza, since renamed People’s Plaza, since Oct. 7 to express their frustration with the growing economic and political inequities in this country.

Minneapolis, MN – About 50 people rallied here at People’s Plaza, the encampment of Occupy MN, and proceeded to south Minneapolis where they occupied a foreclosed home, November 19. In the early evening Minneapolis police, arrested two participants, and attempted to board up the home. Activists surrounded the home, police left, and occupiers re-entered the home. The occupation is ongoing.

Minneapolis, MN – About 800 people blocked a major bridge here, Nov. 17 in a march demanding jobs. Police declared the protest to be an unlawful assembly and arrested 11 people who sat down in an act of civil disobedience. The 10th Avenue Bridge, which spans the Mississippi River, was closed for about an hour.

Los Angeles, CA – “Evict us, we multiply, occupy will never die!” Despite crackdowns against encampments around the country, a large group of students, activists, and union members launched “Occupy UCLA” on Thursday, after a noon rally of several hundred students and workers against budget cuts and fee hikes.

Milwaukee, WI – Protesters in Milwaukee occupied a bridge here, Nov. 17, as similar actions took place across the country. Roughly 200 people gathered in Carver Park in a working-class Milwaukee neighborhood, then marched to the Highway 43 bridge, where they met with about 100 other protesters intent on civil disobedience.

Grand Rapids, MI – Chanting “Condi lied, people died!” 40 people with Occupy Grand Rapids protested outside Devos Place, Nov. 16. Inside, Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State under the Bush administration, spoke at a $100 per plate Republican Party fund raising dinner. At the entrance to the event, Occupy protesters put a giant puppet of former Secretary of State Rice on trial for her war crimes against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Inside, a small gathering of Republican die-hards heard Rice promote her new book in which she defends the U.S. wars and occupations.

Durham, NC – 40 people marched here, Nov. 12, from Occupy Durham's rallying place in downtown Durham to a Wells Fargo branch two miles away, to protest big banks like Wells Fargo, Citibank, Bank of America and others. Protesters chanted, “Hey hey Wells Fargo, foreclosures have got to go!” and “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!” After arriving at the bank, ten people withdrew their money and closed down their accounts with Wells Fargo. Outside the bank, protesters held signs and denounced foreclosures and exploitative lending practices – under the watchful eye of three Durham police squad cars and another police officer on foot.

Largest crowd in weeks to sleep in plaza in defiance of new county ban

Minneapolis, MN – About 400 people rallied at People’s Plaza and marched through downtown Minneapolis on November 14 in defense of OccupyMN. After the march they returned to the plaza and filled it with blankets and sleeping bags for a mass ‘sleep-in’ in defiance of Hennepin County’s new rules banning sleeping in the plaza. As of 10:00 p.m. the County authorities have not moved to clear the plaza.