More than two dozen arrests have followed in the wake of multi-day protests in various locations targeting the Department of Justice and their dereliction of duty to prosecute the involvement of major banks in foreclosure fraud.
Protests began several days ago at law firm Covington & Burling where Attorney General Holder was formerly a partner. Holder’s connection to the law firm is seen to represent the collusion between government and some of the big banks allegedly responsible for the mortgage scandal. Covington & Burling have represented Bank of America, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Protesters literally blocked “the revolving door” to make their point.
Activists and homeowners chanted the familiar refrain from the Occupy movement, “Banks Got Bailed Out; We Got Sold Out” and “The People United Are Too Big To Fail” as seen in the video below. It appears that excessive force had been used during previous days, as Homeland Security worked with local police to quell the disturbance:
In addition to District of Columbia police, the video also shows Homeland Security officers at the scene. The YouTube video and a DCist post say the protest had been going on for several days, at the law firm’s office building and elsewhere, and had involved previous arrests and the use of a stun gun on some individuals. (Source)
According to reports, 7 protesters were arrested for unlawful entry into the lobby area at Covington & Burling, while one was charged with assaulting an officer — which, we have been reminded, could just mean being at a protest and getting tackled and/or tasered by police.
The DCist had this to say:
Twenty-seven protesters have been arrested this week, including activist Carmen Pittman who was stunned by police with a taser Tuesday outside the Department of Justice. On Monday, protesters blocked traffic on Constitution Avenue in front of the DOJ building and were arrested for doing so. The protests are organized in part by Occupy Our Homes and Home Defenders League.
The Department of Justice has yet to acknowledge the protests, according to the Huffington Post.
The video of Carmen Pittman, already restrained, then tasered can be seen here:
Don’t buy things borrowing money and this nonsense will stop. You can buy a $10K towable trailer and live in a KOA. I have not paid interest in 10 years on cars and 25 years on houses. I live in cheaper paid off homes. I stay away from Branksters.
Whoa! I see many lawsuits filed over the next few weeks.
This is going way, way too far.
I believe it was about a year ago that people who banked at Bank of America were protesting on the lawns of the Board of Directors.
One of the bank officers was disturbed then because one of his children was crying and wanting to know why all of those people were on their front lawn.
Someone here is more familiar with the Bible than I am…isn’t there a scripture that mentions something like “woe until the money changers?” Isn’t that an indirect quote about banks?