NEWS IN BRIEF

Jan. 15—Indigenous activists and their supporters gathered at the Central Valley Miwok Tribe’s sole piece of property, a foreclosed house in Stockton, CA to prevent sheriffs from evicting the tribe.
Jan. 19—In Nsukka, Nigeria, at least two students and a policeman were shot and 22 vehicles were burned when hundreds of university students took to the streets to protest fee hikes. Rioting students looted stores and stormed the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor’s residences.
Jan. 20—Four students tried to occupy the vacant Hibernia Bank building in downtown SF in conjunction with a demonstration against the foreclosure crisis and the treatment of the homeless. The students released a communique intending to bridge the gap between student protests and other struggles around precariousness. They hung a banner reading “You take our homes, we take your banks” (see below) before tripping an alarm and getting arrested. They were released the next day; all charges were dropped.


Jan. 20-21—Meeting at UCSF, the UC Regents tried to claim ownership of the March 4th strike by suggesting that they stand “with the students” in demanding more money from the state treasury. At the very same meeting, they approved $3 million in pay raises for 38 upper-echelon UC executives.
Jan. 24—Tenants in Warsaw, Poland occupied a housing office in response to city plans to gentrify their neighborhood.
Jan. 28—Parents in Lanarkshire, Scotland occupied an elementary school slated to be closed, the latest in a series of school occupations that have taken place over the past year.
Jan. 30—Police in Fresno evicted an encampment housing roughly 100 homeless individuals. Police told them they would be evicted from any new camps as well, but most of them, having nowhere to go, set up again in a vacant lot a block away.
Jan. 31—Police in SF attacked a benefit party, which was raising money for fines and legal fees associated with student protests and occupations. Under an alleged “noise complaint,” 11 people were arrested. Many were beaten up both in the streets and later in their cells. All but one were released within 24 hours. The last, a person of color, was charged with multiple felonies. Sound equipment and computers were also seized and destroyed by the police.
Feb. 2—In Holland, students occupied the main building of the University of Utrecht, against an administrative decision to stop publishing the paper version of the school newspaper. This is to be the first in a national wave of actions, fighting budget cuts in education.
Feb. 5-7—Students held a study-in at UC Davis, keeping the Shields Library open over the weekend (it had been closed due to budget cuts). Before the event, however, and in response to the planned study-in, the chancellor announced that he would pre-emptively open the library. Students responded “the library will be open all weekend, because we opened it!”