Last we heard from the Portland Anti-Nuke Occupy arm, they were wrapping up a trip out to Richland, Washington to Occupy the Hanford Nuclear Waste Facility. The relatively peaceful event encouraged out of town ralliers while ticking off more than a few locals. But, despite grumblings, it looks like the group is far from calling it quits.

I got a call from Occupy Hanford leader Miriam German explaining the group's next step. First off, it's no longer labeled "Occupy"—despite its participants solely Occupiers. The new name: No Nukes Northwest. And the current mission? Protest the relicensing of the Columbia Generating Station, a 40-year-old nuclear processing station owned by Energy Northwest that lies on the Hanford grounds. The license extends the station's permit for 20 more years.

"This building only contributes to four percent of the state's energy and it was created to stand for only forty years," says German. "It's unstable, making the danger level here astronomical. I mean, it's holding nuclear energy. That shit's hot."

Tomorrow, those involved with the station will be celebrating it's relicensing, while No Nukes Northwest protests on the nearby road. "We're not sure how close we can get," says Miriam. "But close enough to be noticed."

Early last evening, a small group of Occupiers returned to their old home turf to commemorate the six-month anniversary of their eviction. Meeting in the recently reopened Lownsdale Square, the gathering acted more as a social hangout than a rally, the original idea behind the Facebook-planned event.

• Nothing to see here

Organized by Occupier Liz Nichols—the 21-year-old who was pepper sprayed during the eviction—the event was slated to be a rally against police brutality. "We plan on staying until midnight," said Nichols at the start of the event. "I want the cops to come!" But, an hour in, the small group of 30 appeared to be just another late afternoon get-together, complete with guitar jam sessions and hair braiding.

The ambiguity of the event deterred past Occupiers. A few stopped by only briefly, afraid that Nichols wanted to cause an unnecessary police-attracting commotion. However, the only city officials that stopped by were a group of park rangers, hashing out the details for a ranger vs. Occupy softball game and BBQ in June.

Speaking to another Occupy veteran, Mark, it seemed like the event was more to support Nichols return to the public sphere since her painful incident. "We're just out here to support her. Nothing more than that," he said.

The night ended peacefully and quietly, to Nichols' apparent disappointment. Afterward, she wrote on the Facebook event page: "A lot of people who said they would show didn't. I didn't have the support I needed. What happened to coming together when people need it the most? Thank you to the people that did show up, and I would have stayed longer but it got cold fast and I need to sleep."

But, with the fences surrounding the old Occupy parks now down and summer settling in, it's hard to say what Occupy's next move will be.

May Day started with such promise: a march by high school students that got city hall to lock its doors, and a powerful neighborhood rally that helped return a woman (for now, at least) to her foreclosed, locked home near Woodlawn Park. Then came an unpermitted march through downtown in the early afternoon that didn't have the numbers that usually allow such demonstrations to seize the streets, and there were batches of heavy-handed arrests, reports of bike cops swinging their rides at protesters, and occasional visits from riot-suited cops.

By the late afternoon, the city's annual permitted march, a production of labor and immigration and Occupy groups and others, brought close to 2,000 people out to the streets. That march ended at Shemanski Fountain and gave rise to another demonstration with a decisive message: four undocumented immigrants wearing caps and gowns sat in the road at SW Main and Sixth and volunteered to be ziptied and driven off to an uncertain legal fate. (The only thing that marred the moment was when someone lit a fire in a nearby parking garage dumpster).

But it wasn't long until the "tone," as officials in town like to say, changed again. A dance party that was leaving Pioneer Square to serenade the county jail in front of Chapman Square got a little bit loose and tried to take the streets—and with even less restraint than earlier in the day, riot cops and bike cops roughly moved them along, even arresting a livestreamer and, according to Twitter, dirtying up (with a bike tire) an Oregonian reporter who was along for the ride. (Our tweet-by-tweet accounting of events is here.)

That whole thing led to a weird standoff outside the jail—with the riot cops forming mighty lines across the steps and sidewalk of the Justice Center and the dwindling group of marchers massing on the sidewalks outside Chapman Square—and it put a stop (perhaps cannily by the cops) to any plans for a fun, musically accompanied traipse through downtown. There were more arrests, almost including one photographer who was roughed up but pulled away before she could get pinched, and a lot of puzzlement and frustration. (There also was a Victoria Taft sighting—she was with her dog, Moby, and taking pictures and doing short interviews with protesters.)

I suspect those arrests—the cops announced just 20 or so last night—will wind up as the headline here. They shouldn't. Unless it's to note that despite no widespread acts of vandalism or violence here, Portland's numbers aren't that far off from what went down in Seattle or Oakland. Want to see what our response to traffic violations looks like? The Oregonian has a photo essay and the Portland Occupier still has yesterday's live blog up. UPDATE 11:25 AM: The police bureau has released the rest of the names of those arrested yesterday—bringing the total up to 36, including one 15-year-old (they're now at the bottom of the post).

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• Alex Zielinski
• May Day marchers try to shut down Pioneer Place mall.

There've been arrests—up to a dozen, officially, Portland police are reporting; we think there will likely be much more accounted for when the dust clears. There's been a smoke bomb. People plucked off sidewalks while riding their bicycles. Repeated encounters with riot cops. A sighting of mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith. The usual.

As to where have the marchers gone? A better question is where haven't they gone. The march started beneath the Burnside Bridge and headed toward Naito and Pine (where there was an arrest). It headed south on Fifth (where there were arrests). The crowd hit Pioneer Square (with arrests on the way). Then it meandered toward the South Park Blocks, through Chapman Square, outside Central Precinct, into Pioneer Place Mall and, well, onward and onward.

Except, as our Nathan Gilles just reported a few minutes ago, the crowd has voted to rest for a while at Pioneer Square before deciding whether to march again. The other march planned for today, hosted by all the unions, starts in about an hour.

Hit the jump to see what the cops have had to say about all this so far. And click over to the Portland Occupier live blog to keep up on all the days events and see some excellent pictures of how folks were treated.

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• Home Sweet Home

This morning, a group of 150 or so NE neighbors, Occupy veterans, the Portland Liberation Organizing Council (PLOC), people facing foreclosure on their homes, and folks from a multitude of local community organizations rallied together in Northeast Portland to reclaim a previously foreclosed home on NE Bryant and 6th. The previously unknown location was the destination of a 9:30 am march that started at Woodlawn Park.

Alicia Jackson, who was booted from the house in August and currently living with her father, was "overwhelmed" by the community's support and action to bring her home. "There's unity in community," Jackson said after opening the door to her home for the first time, followed by volunteers carrying moving boxes. "This is amazing!" While she successfully reclaimed her home today, her side yard has already been occupied by a new rental complex, funding by the bank loans.

Along with helping Jackson move her things back into the home and change the locks, folks put on gardening gloves and pulled weeds and replanted flowers in her front lawn. Ralliers of all ages also blocked off the street to kick off a block party—fit with food, music and games (yes, tax dodger dodge-ball). A few participants even sawed down the "for sale" sign and made it into a maypole.

Despite a pair of police cars parked far down the street, the mellow event drew little police attention. It looks like the majority of the police force is downtown covering the Occupy strike march—keep your eyes on the blog to follow the rest of today's May Day happenings!

Update 1:05 PM: That march downtown has already lead to more than a dozen arrests. About 150 or so protesters who started marching from the underbelly of the Burnside Bridge are facing off with cops trying to keep them off downtown streets. Scuffles have been reported at SW Salmon and Broadway, SW Fifth and Start, and SW First and Pine. There's been one smoke bomb so far, but no tear gas or pepper spray. But, wait... what's that? Rot cops appear to be showing up.

Someone was kind enough to share what looks like a memo sent to tenants of US Bancorp Tower about today's Occupy-related happenings, a memo shaped by feedback from the Portland Police Bureau. We're sharing the memo (pdf) with you.

The gist is that security guards will be ready to lock the skyscraper down—and that cops are worried about some kind of Occupy Portland reoccupation. (Which may or may not be happening. One such event is listed here as canceled.) Police officers (no doubt charged with reading Occupy's voluminous social media output) also "believe" that there might be a march starting at the Burnside Bridge. And there will be, later today. It's one of many May Day events, permitted or not.

Portland Police Bureau (PPB) anticipates a number of protests. Currently the only permitted event is the 3:00 pm march that follows the route outlined in the below map. Portland Police expects Occupy Portland participants to make attempts to take over a public space/park and/or a vacant building or possibly a business. Occupy Portland has also signaled they will have an unpermitted march and Portland Police believes they will gather at Waterfront Park at noon for this event.

The Police Bureau will have a planned response and appropriate resources in place. Our security resources will play a key role in securing client facilities. Personnel will be deployed in locations that allow for enough time to lock doors prior to protestor arrival.

Should any of your staff be concerned about possible activity within or around the building, we
encourage them to call the security desk immediately at 503-XXX-XXXX.

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• Denis C. Theriault

I was out there, too, showing up a little before 11 and staying until well-after the cops cleared the park's sidewalks (no one messed with the still-tender, still-fenced-off replanted grass). And it was a strange affair. (And the Oregonian story, relying on a morning report from a police spokesman, got a few details wrong, mostly in timing.)

The occupation was impromptu, led by one occupier, Remi, who put the call out on social media for reinforcements in hopes of making a stand on First Amendment issues. He brought a sign, his molecular biology textbook, and a backpack. The idea was interesting: Occupy and break park curfew hours without camping—a protest, not a party, etc. Whether and how to reoccupy isn't yet a clearcut issue for Occupy.

The problem with that? While Occupy's livestream showed up, along with Occupy Portland folk hero Justin James Bridges, still in a wheelchair, many of those who plopped down on the benches weren't of the mind that the two are very separate things. Beer was drunk, pot was smoked, and words were shouted.

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• Photo by Kendall
• Jonathan Zook testifies

Zook was originally charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, assaulting an officer, and interfering with an officer. But as the Occupy Portland media collective tweeted earlier this morning, Zook was cleared of the first three counts. On the remaining count, a little before noon today, according to Occupy's media folks, Zook was sentenced to one year of probation and 80 hours of community service and also was slapped with a $400 fine. But things could have been much worse for the middle school teacher.

Earlier today, the Portland Occupier posted a recap of the crucial testimony that likely swayed the jury during yesterday's proceedings. And as the Portland Occupier reported yesterday, he jury selection process for Zook’s trial showed a sharp bias toward Occupy.

Zook was the first occupier to to have jury trial, but he might not be the last. Without getting into the nitpicky nuances of the legal dueling between the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, whether dozens of remaining cases go to trial—cases the DA is trying to fast-track as "violations"—might be decided as early as April 30.

• Photo by Paul courtesy of the Portland Occupier

Zook's case, according to the Occupier, illustrates one reason why the DA's office has been so keen not to let too many other occupiers follow.

The surprise was that, unlike some depictions of Occupy Portland in corporate media, the sympathies of Portland’s citizens were very much with the Occupiers. At the onset of questioning, Judge Immergut asked if anyone thought the subject matter would prevent them from making an impartial decision. Three hands immediately went up, all from candidates who admitted a heavy bias in favor of Occupy Portland. Two individuals said they knew people involved with Occupy Portland, and, regardless of police testimony, they wouldn’t be able to discount what they knew to be true from speaking to their friends and co-workers. Another person was even more vigorous in asserting this position and did not mince words. “All the witnesses for the prosecution are police officers,” she said. “ I’ve seen this too many times. I can’t trust them to be honest.” These three candidates were excused.

As previously reported by the Mercury, a few dozen Occupy cases could one day go to court. Following a decision in February by Multnomah County Judge Cheryl Albrecht, some Occupiers whose cases would otherwise have been pushed through the courts—as violations, which are treated like traffic citations—could wind up with jury trials. Or, thanks to a lot of legal battling between defense lawyers and prosecutors, maybe not. We'll find out, maybe, when Albrecht rules on the latest round of motions and counter-motions on Monday, April 30.

That doesn't apply to Zook’s case because Albrecht isn't his judge, but his case (with the favorable jury pool) could nonetheless act as a testing ground for future trials. And this is pretty much what defense lawyers for Occupy have suspected. Many of these lawyers say that if their clients can actually get their day in court, Portland juries would be sympathetic.

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Yesterday, Occupy Portlanders/Salemers/Eugeners/etc. met up in Richland, Washington to rally against the neighboring Hanford nuclear waste site. Originally slated as a event to help expedite the clean-up process at the site, the rally ended up presenting a more anti-nuke agenda, bringing out both fiery protesters and irritated locals. Look for a rundown on the event in this week's Mercury.

Here are a few photos from the event...

• A pro-Hanford advocate meets the crowd

• Radiation ready

MORE PHOTOS AFTER JUMP

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• Paul Cone

Last week, we reported that two lawyers for Occupy had formally submitted a motion asking the Portland Police Bureau turn over any documents related to Occupy Portland—including information on whether the cops had undercover agents among the protesters. This morning, Multnomah County Judge Cheryl Albrecht ruled on the lawyers’ motion, and it looks good for Occupy.

Attorneys Richard McBreen and Leland Berger got all but two of the nine items they requested in their motion. Under Judge Albrecht’s ruling (pdf) the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office will now be required to retrieve the requested evidence from the cops. This includes video taken by the police, police notes, and information on the circumstances that saw pepper spray used on occupiers. Not included in the motion—officially called a “motion to compel discovery”—was a request for police internal affairs reports. And the Occupy lawyers had to compromise on their request for information on undercover officers. But for the most part the Occupy lawyers got what they wanted.

“The ruling looks pretty favorable to our clients,” says McBreen. “The most important stuff we got.”

Albrecht’s ruling follows an earlier decision this February that could change the way cops use arrests during protests.

What usually happens when people arrested during protests show up for court is, well, nothing much. Defendants don’t get legal counsel or a trial. Albrecht’s February decision changes this.

Approximately 70 members of Occupy could now have their day in court, thanks to her ruling. Which Occupy lawyers say is a good thing, because too often police use arrests at protests as crowd control. But to prepare for that day, Occupy lawyers will need evidence, lots of it. And given Albrecht’s current ruling, that’s what they got.

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In hopes of catching the eye of the public and local media outlets, the rowdy Occupy Hanford group shed their shirts on the corner of SW 5th and Taylor this afternoon. Dubbed "Boobs Out for A15," the event aimed to spread awareness of the April 15th Occupy Hanford event in Richland, WA discussing the neighboring Hanford nuclear waste clean-up site. Here's a Q & A we did about the event with Miriam German, who is leading the campaign.

About five women had colorfully (and cleverly...who knew boobs looked like nukes?) painted their naked top halves with radiation symbols or rally information. A few shirtless men also joined in—not as exciting—but I'll post a photo of them above the cut for tastefulness.

According to one of today's ralliers the topless idea came from Dr. Helen Caldicott, a nuclear physicist involved with the April 15th event. "She said she did it once to catch the public's attention," said a topless rallier. "So we though 'Why not? Boobs out!'" Passersby gave the ol' double take at the topless crowd and busloads of TriMet riders oogled from the window.

Okay okay, you pervs, I'll throw up some lady photos AFTER THE JUMP.

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The 4 pm climax of today's Occupy TriMet event wasn't just an Occupy shindig. The meet-up attracted folks from a handful of organizations (including OPAL and the transit union) giving a refreshing face to the Occupy platform.

Mayoral candidate and Occupier Cameron Whitten made an appearance, signature megaphone in tow, calling TriMet's potential budget cuts a "personal issue." "I use it, everyone I know uses it, this affects us all," Whitten said. "These cost hikes shouldn't be targeted at the rider."

The local transit union passed around a petition to straight out impeach TriMet's General Manager Neil McFarlane. "All he focuses on is building more, when the real concern should be moving people," said Michael Pucik, political coordinator for the transit union.

"I'm here for my drivers that are not being taken care of," said union board officer Sandra Guengerich. She noted that the lack of new buses and the tight schedules are serious safety hazards. "The wheel doesn't turn because of them—it's because of us." She also stressed the importance of settling the union contract that's thrown a wrench into TriMet's budget plans.

The rally ended up being just that: A rally, with folks hoisting signs in the air and quoting MLK over megaphones. But could this mark a turning point in the Occupy movement, due to it's collaboration with strong outside organizations and definite goals? We shall see.

SURPRISE GUEST AFTER JUMP!

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With the Anti-Corporation F29 protests under their belt, Occupy Portlanders have set their sights elsewhere: Washington's Hanford nuclear waste site. A handful of anti-nuke Occupiers, peeved by the speed (or lack thereof) of the nuke site's cleanup that began in the late 80s, plan on hauling the Portland-centric rally to the eastern Washington locale on April 15. But, unlike recent Occupy demands, this "day of awareness" isn't a call for action, but more a call for clarity on what is going on at the site. To get a better grasp on what fueled this event and what it has in store, I called up rally organizer Miriam German.

• Occupy Portland

So what triggered this rally? Why Hanford?
A friend of mine from the Tri-Cities actually brought up the idea. She had hopes of becoming an organic farmer, which was obviously an oxymoron with a nuke site in your backyard, and wanted to make some change. A lot of people are left in the dark when it comes to Hanford's history and cleanup progress. It's a time bomb, really. It's vital that we bring the similarities between the site and the Fukishima plant into the light before it's too late.

Why now?
Sunday, April 15 is the day before Earth Day. We thought this would coincide nicely with the ideas behind a day focused on bettering the environment. It's also a little over a year since the Fukishima disaster — an event that could easily be mimicked at Hanford.

What are you ultimately hoping to achieve with the rally?
First and foremost, awareness from those living near the plant to those in Washington, D.C. The country needs to learn about what's going on here. We're going to have a bunch of educated speakers giving presentations on the issue. We ideally hope to push the Hanford clean-up effort up the list of priorities of the government.

Have you spoken with Hanford officials about your impending visit? What's their take on the rally?
Yes. I had a conference call with middle management last week and invited them to attend. I made sure they understood that it's not a protest — our mission is to bring the issues out into the open. I told them "You are the ones who look terrible for not moving along with the clean-up. This will help both of us." They will let me know next week if they plan on making an appearance.

How have you gotten the word out about the rally? Who's involved?
We've reached out to Occupiers all across the country in hopes of having multiple rallies in solidarity on the 15th. We also have Columbia Riverkeeper, Hanford Watch, Beyond Nuclear and Oregon Conservancy involved (representatives from these groups will speak at the rally). Of course, Occupy meetings in Portland are the best source of outreach.

Why is this an Occupy pursuit?
Well, I thought if Occupy is good at anything, it's being persistent. And that's what we want!

Keep your eye out next month for coverage of the April 15 rally.

It was a strange end to a focused, intensively planned afternoon of benign mayhem in Portland—whose call-out to target members of the American Legislative Exchange Council echoed nationally and led to more arrests and more contention in cities (like New York and Los Angeles) where many more symbols of corporate power abound.

In all, Portland cops said, seven people were arrested here: Two were accused of climbing on/damaging a van outside the Verizon store on Broadway; two more were arrested away from the march in a protest at a Bank of America at NE 12th and Broadway; and three others were taken into custody after chaining themselves to the office of Paul Cosgrove, the state corporate co-chair for ALEC—the group the protest was targeting.

Really, after cops ceded the streets, with early blockades by bike and motorcycle officers quickly getting overwhelmed, there were just two flareups where things could have tilted. The first was outside the Justice Center when the Verizon van arrests were made, And the second was near the Wells Fargo tower, when a cruiser tried to turn into the crowd, got surrounded, and then needed mounted officers and, eventually, a small line of riot cops who merely stood by with their batons, to crack the car loose again.

But those seven arrests weren't the only ones I heard about yesterday. Two occupiers I spoke with at the end of the march, Dustin Hawks and Andre, said they were pinched a block from the house they were staying in near NE 42nd and Alberta Court. They said their house is an Occupy house—and not a squat house, like the kind that cops have been busting up recently—but that police have been keeping tabs on the place in recent weeks.

The morning of the march, they were listening to police scanner traffic and heard officers calling the house an "anarchist house" and counting who was leaving. After they left, they said, they were stopped, asked for ID, and then arrested and cited (according to the tickets they showed me) for the puzzling charge of "improper crossing on a highway."

Neither arrest was mentioned in the police statement. "It's an intimidation thing," Andre said. "That's all it is."

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Update 4:20pm: The protest is done for the day! From Wells Fargo, the group marched to the Waterfront and then an organizer told everyone over the megaphone that it was time to wrap things up and head home. That's a surprise—we're used to having Occupy protests go on and on, until all the tents are destroyed. Anti-ALEC protests also took to the streets in New York City, Albany, Tuscon, Salt Lake City and apparently about 70 other cities.

Over and out, except for this photo of clowns pretending to be mounted patrol cops:

• Nathan Gilles

Update 3:48pm: There was a brief standoff between protester and riot police at SW 5th and Columbia, but the crowd seems to have now moved on.

Update 3:20pm: More hijinks! We just got word that three animal rights activists have chained themselves together with a motorcycle lock in the office of Paul Cosgrove, a corporate lawyer who serves as the state corporate co-chair of ALEC. Cosgrove's office is on the 34th floor of the Wells Fargo tower, where the protest has just arrived.

• JH

... and according to the Portland Police twitter feed, as of 3:30, the three locked-together protesters are now in custody.

Update 3pm: Hijinks! As the protest gathered around the building for Oregon's top healthcare contractor, Regence, a middle-aged man wearing a suit and red tie walked out of the building and declared he was Joseph Hill, the PR Director of Regence. The crowd booed, but the suit-wearing man announced that the healthcare group was resigning from ALEC because they're sick of funding anti-democratic activities. Cue round of applause and media swarm!

However, this is likely a prank (and a pretty good one). EDIT: Yep! Hoax! Pretty hilarious. Though Regence is not a member of ALEC, their parent company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is involved in the organization.

Reporter Alex Z also has this dispatch from the McDonalds the protest swarmed a bit ago:

"Look up!" Shouts a woman on the megaphone, as a huge anti-ALEC poster drops from the parking garage above the fast food joint on SW 6th Avenue. The march slows to a halt and swarms around McDonald's facade. Food Not Bombs sets up shop out front, handing out "healthy alternatives" to the "carcinogen-filled, evil" wares inside. After the food is devoured, the protesters want more. The doors to the resturant are held open, ushering in a group of thirty or so ralliers. One prepared particiapnt serenades the small audience of Mickey D's staff and patrons with an anti-ALEC and McDonald's ballad, full of fuck you's. Beautiful.

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The Portland Police Bureau has issued a preemptive warning about the long-planned nationally organized Shut Down the Corporations rally and march—essentially telling anyone who's going to be downtown on Wednesday, February 29, to expect to wait a few minutes longer at traffic lights and, also, maybe, you know, ogle as officers in riot gear come out to gently herd marchers along.

The Police Bureau's responsibility in marches is to balance the rights of all involved and maintain public order. Without public order everyone's civil liberties would be at risk. Our job is to assure the safety and convenience of all people as they use Downtown streets. No one group can disobey laws to promote their message at the expense of the rest of the community's right to unrestricted use of the streets of the downtown core. We know that families need to pick up their kids from school, business must be able to conduct business and everyone in the community must be able to make their way safely throughout the city.

The Portland Police Bureau is committed to vigorously pursuing the goal of supporting participants to express their view which is their free speech right and we also support the needs of our community to move safely and without disruption through the city.

The Portland Police Bureau will be at this march and will take all appropriate action necessary to balance the rights of all involved, ensure everyone follows all laws and will take all necessary steps to ensure that this is a safe and peaceful event for all.

In one change from some similar warnings, the bureau holds back on drizzling the missive with Occupy Portland references. The only one comes at the end of the release, in a list of "sources" (aka websites the officers read). It also offers a helpful link to the city's free-speech permit FAQ and points out a bunch of other events recently that had taken steps to get legal.

That's not going to work with this event—which will rely, in part, on a cloud of clever disruptions and sit-ins—because giving the march route to cops would kinda sorta ruin the surprise. And that would be a shame, because the target of Wednesday's protest is a worthy one: the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

Why is ALEC so worthy? Think about the folllowing: when your late lunch winds up disrupted by riot police:

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