FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 19, 2012

Contact:

OccupySF Press Team +1 415 937-7759, press@occupywallstwest.org

Occupy Wall St West Daylong Nonviolent Mass Occupation of SF Financial District

San Francisco – Occupy San Francisco activists plan to occupy San Francisco’s Financial District this Friday, January 20 (J20), to demand that banks end predatory evictions and foreclosures and that corporations lose the rights of personhood. Protestors will target banks and corporations complicit in attacking Bay Area communities, homes, education, environment, livelihood, and democracy.

The Occupy Movement will continue to build a strategic mass movement asserting the power of the 99% for economic justice and a better world.

The J20 Wall Street West action kicks off 2012 with dozens of affinity groups (people self-organized into groups to participate in the occupation) and over 55 organizations targeting specific banks and corporations. Occupy Wall St West will be the largest occupation and street protest of the SF Financial District since anti-war mass nonviolent direct actions on March 20, 2003.

WHAT: Daylong protests and direct actions to disrupt business as usual for banks and corporations complicit in evictions and foreclosures, economic injustice, war profiteering, and labor rights violations.

WHEN: 6:00am-7:00pm, January 20, 2012. The day kicks off with a 6:00am squid fry at Goldman Sachs, 555 California St, and culminates with a 5pm March from Bradley Manning (Justin Herman) Plaza to 555 California St. Press liaisons will be available from 6:00am to 6:00pm at Bradly Manning Plaza welcoming station to direct press inquiries.

WHERE: Pre-planned actions are identified on the

action map (www.occupywallstwest.org/map) and

action schedule/list (www.occupywallstwest.org/actions)

plus orientations / mobilizations at 6am, noon, and ongoing

at Bradley Manning (Justin Herman) Plaza, San Francisco.

HOW: For interview requests and hot action story tips:

Day-of-action press hotline: (415) 937-7759

Email: press@occupywallstwest.org

For featured news roll, videostreams, and twitter feeds:

See www.occupywallstwest.org and http://www.occupysf.org

Subscribe to press list or obtain photos and video of the actions: www.occupywallstwest.org/press

VISUALS:

6:00am-11:30am: “Squidding Goldman Sachs” people in giant squid costumes – 555 California St.

12:00pm (noon) (near California and Kearny), and 5:00pm (at Bradley Manning/Justin Herman Plaza): Large “One People” flashmob

12:00pm (noon): Occupy the Courts action at the 9th District Court of Appeals

4:30pm: Large labor protest at the Hyatt hotel

Throughout the day: Iraq veterans simulating occupation outside Bechtel office and Bank of America transformed into “food bank”

(Call +1 415 937-7759 or check action schedule/list on day-of-action for times and locations.)

The January 20, 2012, Occupy Wall St West actions are the culmination of actions in which hundreds of protestors successfully shut down bank branches in the Excelsior, Mission, and Bernal neighborhoods.

Occupy SF strives to address and confront the injustices in our society by giving voice to the 99% through direct actions. OSF is simultaneously creating a new culture based on direct democracy, diversity, sustainable communities, and respect for all peoples and the environment.

Occupy SF Housing is a coalition which includes OccupySF, SF Tenants Union, Housing Rights Committee of SF, Causa Justa: Just Cause, Eviction Defense Collaborative, ACCE, Homes Not Jails, Occupy Bernal, and other community groups and individuals. The coalition came together to stop banks from evicting tenants and homeowners through foreclosures or through their partnerships with real estate speculators.

Over 50 additional organizations are participating in the Occupy Wall Street West Day of Action including: 28th Amendment Group, Ack-Act Theater, ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and Racism Coalition), Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Asian Law Caucus, Bail Out the People Movement, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice, California Nurses Association, Causa Justa: Just Cause, Coalition on Homelessness, Chinese Progressive Association, CODEPINK Women for Peace, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Dancing Without Borders, Eviction Defense Collaborative, Filipino Community Center, Global Exchange, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Homonomixxx, Housing Rights Committee, International Action Center, International Socialist Organization, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Jewish Youth for Community Action, Jobs with Justice, La Raza Centro Legal­Day Laborer Program and Women’s Collective, Move to Amend, Move to Amend: Olympia, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, NationofChange, Occupy Bernal, Occupy Berkeley, Occupy MJC (Modesto Junior College), Occupy Oakland, Occupy SF General Assembly and Action Council, Occupy SF Housing Coalition, Occupy SFSU (San Francisco State University), Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, People Organized to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights, People Organized to Win Employment Rights, Pride at Work, Pride at Work/HAVOQ (Horizontal Alliance of Very Organized Queers), Progressive Workers Alliance, QUEEN, Rainforest Action Network, San Francisco for Democracy, San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco Tenants Union, SF 99% Coalition, SF Gray Panthers, Seminary of the Street, SF Interfaith Allies of Occupy, SF-NOW, Workers World Party, Young Workers United.

Information on prior Occupy SF Housing actions:

Excelsior: www.occupywallstwest.org/wordpress/?p=362

Mission: www.occupywallstwest.org/wordpress/?p=713

Bernal: occupybernal.org/wordpress/?p=238 and occupybernal.org/wordpress/?p=190

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