The White House and Occupy Portland.....

OBAMA ADMIN BLESSES GSA DECISION NOT TO ARREST OCCUPY PROTESTERS

Barack Obama found himself in hot water when he told a group of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protestors, “Families like yours, young people like the ones here today — including the ones who were just chanting at me — you’re the reason that I ran for office in the first place.”

The President was harshly criticized for essentially giving a “shout out” to a movement plagued by accusations of criminal and violent behavior. But Judicial Watch recently uncovered evidence suggesting that Obama White House support for the OWS crowd was not limited to rhetoric.

Last week, we released records from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicating that the General Services Administration (GSA), with the approval of the Obama White House, instructed law enforcement officers to “stand down” and not arrest “Occupy Portland” protestors who were in violation of the law.

You read that correctly.

The records, which we obtained pursuant to a November 11, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, include internal DHS correspondence. And one November 6, 2011, e-mail exchange between DHS/National Protection and Programs Directorate Chief of Staff Caitlin Durkovich and GSA Public Buildings Service Commissioner Robert Peck (who has since been fired) specifically related to Occupy Portland protests taking place on federal property in Portland.

I am sorry to be emailing you on a Sunday night, but wanted to let you know our Press Shop has received a couple of calls from Portland media outlets about a group of 11 protesters who again set up camp at Terry Shrunk Plaza in Portland last night. They have chained themselves to a large drum filled with concrete. GSA controls the permits and has asked FPS [Federal Protective Services] not to enforce the curfew at park and the prohibition on overnight encampments. Reporters have asked if we will be arresting the protestors as FPS did last week.

Our FPS Commander in Portland says they are standing down and following GSA’s request to only intervene if there is a threat to public safety.

Peck responds:

Caitlin: yes, that is our position; it’s been vetted with our Administrator and Michael Robertson, our chief of staff, and we have communicated with the WH [White House], which has afforded us the discretion to fashion our approach to Occupy issues…The arrests last week were carried out despite our request that the protesters be allowed to remain and to camp overnight…

The White House coordinated on not enforcing the law. Gee, what kind of problems would this cause?

From the Portland Live:

Central Precinct Cmdr. Bob Day said crime in three policing districts surrounding or close to Chapman and Lownsdale squares has gone up by 18 percent during Occupy Portland's presence from Oct. 6 through Nov. 6, compared to reported crimes in the same month a year ago.

Day, speaking Tuesday to a downtown public safety advisory group, said the bureau has noticed an increase in car break-ins, disorderly conduct, assaults, street robberies and commercial burglaries.

"We're seeing an uptick in crimes," Day said.

On Monday night, the downtown Outdoor Store was broken into and about $4,000 worth of knives were stolen, Day said.

"We're genuinely concerned they could be back in the park. We don't know," Day said, referring to the squares where Occupy Portland participants are camping.

Two Gresham police cars parked on Southwest Third Avenue were found vandalized, windows smashed out with a hammer, about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Day said. An arrest was made.

Between Nov. 1 and Tuesday, five downtown businesses were burglarized. Police recovered stolen bike parts and a bicycle at the Occupy Portland encampments in the last two days...

The future of America says B Hussein Obama. Lawless hoodlums destroying others property and threatening people with no fear of consequences. Anarchy, to say the least. I would hope we will never see this again, but I know better. They were just rent a mobs.