Singing Protesters Arrested Again During "Public" Foreclosure Auction - New York News - Runnin' Scared

Activists took up song to protest a "public" foreclosure auction in Brooklyn Supreme Court this afternoon. Many of those gathered (from FUREE, Housing Is a Human Right, Organizing for Occupation, and a new group called Occupied Real Estate) had taken part in another singing act of protest last October to temporarily halt foreclosure proceedings and bring attention to the fact that every week, week after week, foreclosure auctions take place which leave families homeless when members of the "public" successfully buy the homes.

But this time was rather different. Far more people participated, with the courtroom being filled with about 60 people initially, according to Michael Premo of Housing is a Human Right; we personally saw over 20 people arrested, and organizers say approximately 35 were taken into custody.

And, since after court resumed and everyone but people the guards thought were buyers were barred from the courtroom (including members of the press), it couldn't really be called a "public" auction at all.

When we arrived at 3:00 PM, the singing already started. As the Voice was going through the metal detector in the lobby of Brooklyn Supreme Court, we could hear "Listen Auctioneer," a protest song composed for the October action, being sung in harmony and drifting down the marble hallway. State police sprinted down towards the music, as if they were running to put out a fire.

The first person we saw being led away in plastic cuffs was Rachel Falcone of Housing Is a Human Right (and our former colleague at StoryCorps). We also recognized lawyers Karen Gargamelli and Jay Kim of the legal firm Common Law. All three women -- like all the people led away -- kept singing the auctioneer sung as they were taken into custody.

The scene outside Room 224 of the courthouse was one of controlled chaos. According to Premo, when the singing started, people were ordered to leave the courtroom. Those who stayed did so knowing they would be arrested.

But the hallway was plenty full of protestors still singing, who were driving the police crazy; strangely, though they yelled (and even begged) a couple of times for them to please stop singing, they didn't threaten to arrest them for that.

via blogs.villagevoice.com