Organizing For Occupation

Weary of protestors, the Brooklyn Supreme Court has ramped up security checks, turning what was once a smooth and quick entry into auction room into something resembling an airport TSA line

Yesterday's action at Brooklyn led to 38 arrests.

Unlike the Seabrook incident, most of the interactions between guards and protestors went smoothly, and almost all were released, charged with only a violation of disorderly conduct.

The third "People's Bailout", a series of singing protests organized by activist group Organizing for Occupation that aims to disrupt the court foreclosure proceedings, took place this morning at 11am at the Queens Supreme Court. Forty-two people showed up for the movement and, in three separate batches, interrupted the auction process by standing and singing "Mr. Auctioneer".

Nick Pinto

The afternoon's event, part of a collaborative National Day of Action effort taking place in over 20 cities, was accompanied by a real estate tour of five foreclosed buildings in the area, a block party, and even some intermittent rain that posed no real threat to the day's planned activities.

The neighborhood was one that most of the day's participants would rarely venture into, with its high crime rates, vacant buildings, and bodegas. Once an enclave for working class Italian, Jewish, and other European immigrants, East New York is now a predominately Black and Latino area affected by extremely high unemployment.

Michelle D. Anderson

1241 Flatbush Ave. was sold at auction on Thursday, despite a song-delayed court session

The event, which sought to bring awareness to the mass foreclosures in the city by rallying against the auction proceedings of three Brooklyn addresses, drew local coverage with its unorthodox tactics, like grinding court to a halt by singing a song called "Mrs. Auctioneer."

By the end of the day, only one of the three buildings set to be auctioned (which had all been profiled by the Voice before Thursday's protest) was sold to a new owner.

Yesterday, we wrote about how nine people, including two lawyers, got arrested for temporarily halting the foreclosure auctions of three buildings in Brooklyn Supreme Court, by singing. Even though such auctions are open to the public (until the court officers tell you that you'll be arrested if you watch them in the public gallery, anyway), it's unusual to see video of such a proceeding. But our friends at Housing is a Human Right managed to shoot this video and smuggle it out.