10:20 PM Occupy Congress livestream — here. The day of action is wrapping up.

I will be here tomorrow morning, early. I will be covering Occupy Syracuse’s eviction. There will be a livestream (hopefully). They are being evicted at 8 am and a few bold and courageous people plan to face down police and stand their ground.

We also have SOPA Blackout tomorrow. Stay tuned.

10:15 PM Looks like Occupy Congress was a cathartic experience and very good day of action that was good for the spirit of occupiers from around the country.

Someone though (we don’t know who) has just grabbed headlines by throwing a smoke bomb over the White House fence. Agent provocateur? Lone wolf protester? Who knows. The media is in overdrive now making this the focus of their Occupy Congress coverage.

A person could have just showed up who had little to do with the organizing and under cover of the protest threw a smoke bomb. Only reactionary news outlets will suggest that this was premeditated and planned by someone who takes their role in the Occupy movement seriously.

9:15 PM Riot cops with batons and shields show up to Occupy Congress demonstration in front of the White House. They are trying to “evict” the vigil now. They say the “park is closed.”

8:17 PM Hour or so ago —

8:04 PM Now, Occupy Congress is in front of the White House

7:07 PM The Right to Peacefully Assemble is laid to rest on the first floor of City Hall by Occupy Chicago (occupiers were stopped and not allowed to go up to the fifth floor where Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office is located).


[via @exileinflyville]

7:00 PM Occupying the Supreme Court


(via @Occupy_DC)

6:47 PM LIVESTREAM – Occupy Congress march in progress right now (number of updates on the march in the comments thread of this post)

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

6:45 PM Sgt. Shamar Thomas “detains” Sen. Carl Levin for supporting the NDAA

6:00 PM House subcommittee headed by Rep. Darrell Issa will hold a hearing on Occupy DC and the National Park Service’s decision to let them stay at McPherson Square next week. Issa has been gunning for Occupy DC pretty much since it began.

3:27 PM Rumor that Occupy Congress participants may be trying to occupy the west lawn of Capitol Hill before night is over.

3:26 PM Larger group is getting into many different small groups. Targeted direct actions about to begin.

3:23 PM Occupy Congress describes the scene from 4-5 hours ago (11 am ET)

3:17 PM Al Jazeera English‘s “The Stream” has a great page of videos and pictures being sent to them from Occupy Congress.

3:10 PM Occupy Congress just over an hour ago (via @katz )

3:02 PM Live streams of action happening with Occupy Congress right now: @PunkBoyinSF / @Timcast

3:01 PM And while I was visiting Occupy Flint, the Capitol Police in DC were pulling some huge shenanigans so let’s update the blog with some details on what has been going on with Occupy Congress today…

3:00 PM Just visited Occupy Flint, delivered supplies from #OccupySupply and conducted some interviews with Flint occupiers.

10:05 AM I am supposed to go to the Occupy Syracuse camp on my current tour. Now, the mayor of Syracuse is shutting down the occupation. They have been given a 24-hour notice to leave.

9:12 AM Brett Redmayne-Titley for OpEdNews with a good preview of the plans for Occupy Congress today.

9:07 AM More on Don Ainsworth, the Greyhound bus driver who kicked Occupy protesters off his bus. He has now been removed from duty for the time being.

9:00 AM Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues his push for anti-protest ordinances in Chicago. City Council committees will be marking up the ordinances that have been designed for controlling the population of Chicago during the NATO/G8 meetings. This is, as Occupy Chicago pointed out this morning, what he is doing, what Occupy Chicago has been doing, and what is happening this morning. Many Chicagoans will be confronting the City Council to demand these ordinances do not pass.

Original Post

There were already hundreds of people from around the country in Washington, DC, last night and there will be even more people arriving this morning for a planned “Occupy Congress” day of action.

At OccupyWallSt.org, a post explains why occupiers are headed to Capitol Hill today:

At 9 am on the opening day of Congress, Occupy Congress will convene for a day of action against a corrupt political institution. Actions include a multi-occupational General Assembly, teach-ins, an OCCUParty, a pink slip for every congressional “representative” and a march on all three branches of a puppet government that sold our rights and our futures to the 1%.

This is an illegitimate system. Around half of the nation’s population doesn’t participate in electoral politics. More than 6 million Americans who want to vote are disenfranchised, including the entire populace of the District of Columbia. There is consensus that we are on the wrong track and that our “leaders” do not have our interests at heart.

Charging that elected officials primarily work for interests like Wall Street, the action is happening today to challenge “Wall Street cronies” and show the 99% can create a better world.

Occupy Congress’ website has a rundown of events for the day:

9am – Converge at West Front Lawn at Capitol Hill
(Meetings with Representatives concurrent)
10 am – Training for volunteers on De-escalation,
Legal Observing, Medical, Direct Action
11 am – Teach-ins and Open Mic start and go all day
12 noon – Multi-Occupation General Assembly
2 pm – Open Activities and Idea Sharing Sessions
*6pm* – Occupy Congress Rally and Protestand DC Voting Rights Vigil
8pm – 11pm - OCCUParty

It appears that power has already begun to secure the area around Capitol Hill to limit how close the protest is able to get today. A Twitter user named the US Department of Fear posts this photo showing the installation of a double-ring of fences in the area around the Capitol.

There will be livestreams of the action all throughout the day. Follow this Twitter list for minute-by-minute reports on Occupy Congress (#J17 if you are following on Twitter).

*

I am in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I will be traveling to Occupy Flint today. I will be dropping off materials from Occupy Supply so they can continue their encampment. They are one of the last Occupy groups in Michigan with a 24/7 presence. Another is Occupy Ann Arbor (or Occupy A2), which I will be visiting as well at some point during the day.

Firedoglake’s premier live blog continues now. Updates will appear at the top. All times are EST. Email any news tips or updates to kevin.gosztola@firedoglake.com.