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The Secret Service was responding Tuesday night to an escalating protest that may have involved a smoke bomb being thrown over the White House fence. An estimated 1,000 protesters have gathered. No arrests have been made, but authorities are on alert. The tense scene outside the White House follows an earlier protest on the West Lawn of the Capitol, in which several hundred protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement decried the influence of corporate money in politics and voice myriad other grievances. Organizers had touted the rally, known as Occupy Congress, as the largest national gathering of Occupy...

Thousands of Occupy protesters from across the country are expected to converge Tuesday on Capitol Hill to take their message to the halls of Congress, in what some observers say is the movement’s overdue moment to engage the American political system. Protesters already have set up camps in public spaces, taken over foreclosed homes and shut down key shipping ports, but for the most part they have shunned the political system, viewing it as beyond salvation. The congressional protest – which falls on the movement's four-month mark and the beginning of a new session of Congress – appears to represent...

United States Coast Guard. Image by U.S. Coast Guard President Barack Obama’s administration has ordered the United States Coast Guard to protect grain ships at the Port of Longview from violent “Occupy” protesters and dockworker union members, according to a local news report. The Daily News in Longview, Wash., reported that the Coast Guard will protect a grain shipment from an onslaught of “Occupy” protesters and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The ship will be transporting grain to Asia. A date for the shipment has not yet been set. The group of leftwing activists had shut...

NEW YORK (AP) -- It was only a few nights after the Occupy protesters began sleeping in his church sanctuary when the Rev. Bob Brashear realized that his laptop was missing. The refugees from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park had found their way to his cavernous Presbyterian church on a cold winter evening, hoping to stay for a few nights, maybe longer. It was the latest stopover for the nomadic group, which has been living in a rotating series of churches since the city shut down its camp in November. "There was a sense of shock and sadness that it had happened,"...

Occupy 2012: Firmly disorganized, driven by dreamsBy Laird Harrison and Michelle Nichols | Reuters – 1 hr 3 mins ago Oakland, Calif./New York (Reuters) - (Repeats with no change to text) It's been a long, cold winter already for Occupy Wall Street, the protest movement that burst onto the scene in September to focus national attention on income inequality and the perceived greed of the rich and powerful. Police have cleared the signature "Occupy" encampments in New York, Los Angeles, Oakland and other major cities. Cold weather, and perhaps protest fatigue, have weakened the handful of camps that remain around...

The wanted poster asks for Albany Police Officer Richard Gorleski's address, phone numbers, and email address as well as a map to his home and a picture of it. Occupy Albany member Bradley Russell admits he made the poster and posted it on Facebook. "I have made no threats and I don't want any threats made," Russell tells FOX23 News. "I have no intention of going after this man. On the other hand, if a peaceful drum circle were to show up at his house one day and protest his actions individually [...] I think that would be a legitimate...

Occupy protesters try to disrupt ports; police make arrestsBy Mike Pearson, CNN updated 5:27 AM EST, Tue December 13, 2011 (CNN) -- Occupy protesters succeeded in shutting down overnight operations at California's port of Oakland on Monday night after a day of similar protests in several other U.S. cities. The protests in Oakland have "disrupted workers trying to get to work and impaired the port's ability to operate," port spokesman Issac Kos-Read told CNN. Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said the port has told its members not to report for work for the overnight...

One month ago, one of the biggest stories was the Occupy Wall Street movement. But that was one month ago. From violence and murder to rapes and disease, OWS has been shown as the blight that it truly is. And because of it, despite the shrieking from the Main Stream Media, Americans have rejected Occupy Wall Street and its socialistic values. This is no more evident than OccupyWallStreet.org's website, which was created by the founders of the protests just before the "movement" went national. Their readership peaked in early October and has plummeted since. As the Web Information Company Alexa...

OAKLAND — As anti-Wall Street protesters attempt to regroup and settle in for winter after a series of police raids that stripped much of the movement of its signature camps, protesters on the West Coast are staging a comeback. On Dec. 12, Occupy movements from Seattle to San Diego say they will shut down their local ports, temporarily stopping the flow of capital on the West Coast. Organizers say they aim to disrupt the business of the “1 percent” — in this case, the corporations that own shipping terminals and do business at the ports. If successful, shutting down the...

Police tied ropes around several Occupy DC protesters and plucked them off the roof of a temporary structure in the McPherson Square on Sunday night, capping a contentious day between law enforcement and demonstrators. At the end of Sunday night, 31 had been taken into police custody. The clash was set off by am approximately 20-foot-high structure, built by protesters overnight Saturday without a permit. Park Police declared the shack-like structure a safety hazard and ordered it removed Sunday. Spokesperson Sgt. David Schlosser told News4: "Park Police and the National Park Service firmly support people's first amendment rights to assemble...

<p>John Ford signed up for a revolution, but he’s running a clinic.</p> <p>In the early days of Occupy Boston, Ford, a 30-year-old bookstore owner from the white, blue-collar town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Alex Ingram, a 22-year-old African-American from Georgia who served in the Air Force as a linguist, would stay up late into the night in Occupy Boston’s library. Enveloped by Rousseau and Chomsky, they’d ponder big ideas about how to change the system. But tonight they’re grappling with a different set of issues: How do we deal with Henry, who’s drunk and pissed off again and recently threatened another Occupier with a hammer? What do we say to the furious young woman who’s on a manhunt for the guy who promised her forty bucks for sex and then ran off? And what the hell are we going to do about Phil?</p>

SEATTLE -- Police say a man who displayed an antI-Occupy Seattle sign near Seattle Central Community College was beaten on Friday. The 42-year-old man stood just north of the Occupy camp holding a sign that read "Occupy Somewhere Else, Not My School," according to police. At roughly 5:30 p.m., three to five men who disagreed with the sign walked over to the man and made their feelings known. The victim told police the men began taking verbal jabs at him and at one point used a dog to intimidate him. At some point during the argument, police say one of...

On December 12th, Occupy Denver seemingly plans to "shut down" the WalMart distribution center in Loveland on December 12th. Please, if you are able, join us this Saturday for the Free Markets - Free People Rally in the State Cap in downtown Denver. Word is 500 or so occupiers from Springs and Pueblo plan to come counter protest us. We do not know this to be accurate, but that is the word we are getting. So we can use all the bodies we can get. It will be cold out, so do dress warmly. Despite the given time frame, we...

The “Occupy London” movement stormed the offices of a mining company called Xstrata today, as reported by The Australian, which found the story of great interest to its readers because Xstrata has extensive operations in Australia: About 60 protesters got inside Panton House, Occupy London Stock Exchange (OLSX) said, where the diversified Anglo-Swiss firm has its British office. Another 200 were held outside within a police cordon, in the heart of central London's West End entertainment district. Some covered their faces with masks as they swept through the building. The protesters reached the roof and unveiled a banner reading "All...

Ever since September, when activists heeded Adbusters editor Kalle LasnÂ’s call to Occupy Wall Street, itÂ’s become a rite of passage for reporters, bloggers, and video trackers to go to the occupiersÂ’ tent cities and comment on what they see. Last week, the day after New York mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the NYPD to dismantle the tent city in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, the New York Times carried no fewer than half a dozen articles on the subject. Never in living memory has such a small political movement received such disproportionate attention from the press. Never in living memory...

Outrage!… St. Louis Mayor’s Office Lashes Out at Tea Party After Sexual Assault Is Reported at #Occupy St. Louis Squatters Camp Earlier today it was reported that a woman was sexually assaulted at the #Occupy St. Louis squatters camp earlier this month. The news only broke today after it was reported first by two local bloggers. Later today in an interview with KMOV TV, the mayor’s Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford commented on the assault by lashing out at the tea party. He also called St. Louis Police Sgt. Gary Wiegert, the officer who broke the story, an extremist. Outrageous!

The Occupy movement is stepping up its confrontational tactics, plotting “alternative forms of protest,” including flash mobs that can be deployed nationwide. Citing the success of last week’s so-called Day of Action protests, Take to the Square, one of Occupy’s main online planning forums, has devised an “Alternative Day of Action” to coincide with international Human Rights Day on Dec. 10. “Our freedom and dignity are under attack as a result of market dynamics and corrupt government institutions that are turning our local and global societies into increasingly unjust places,” the site complains. The Occupy forum calls for “alternative forms...

A man was rushed to Maine Medical Center's emergency room early Friday morning after an Occupy Wall Street protester struck him in the head with a hammer. The victim was in the hospital for several hours, was treated, and then released. According to police, the assault happened after the victim was playing drums loudly at Occupy Maine. Chris Schisler, 34, took exception to the drums, approached the man, and, after a brief argument, hit him in the head with a hammer. Witnesses stated that the man started playing drums at seven in the morning, waking fellow protesters up and demanding...

The various "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrations around the country declared Thursday to be a "day of action" in the ongoing protest of big banks and Wall Street policies that they blame for a sagging economy. While thousands protested in Manhattan, Los Angeles and other cities, several hundred people took to the streets of downtown Amherst. According to video supplied to The Republican by Julie Varney of Amherstwire.com, demonstrators assembled in front of Bank of New England branch at South Pleasant and Amity Streets. At one point, the footage shows demonstrators storming into the bank lobby to disrupt business. After several...

Protesters who blocked traffic Thursday and invited arrest declared victory and marched off after Police Chief Edward Flynn said that officers wouldn't help them fulfill their "martyrdom fantasies" and that they could stay "and freeze their butts off." Hundreds of protesters sat or stood on the North Ave. bridge over Interstate 43 for two hours. Flynn, speaking to TV cameras as protesters chanted "We are the 99%," said he was withdrawing most of the couple dozen officers who had been watching the protesters "so we can answer 911 calls and protect the community." The demonstration demanding economic justice coincided with...