Anti-foreclosure activists report that Portland police made at least one arrest late tonight after a group attempted to “liberate” an empty NE Portland duplex for use as a community space.

Supporters of the Portland Liberation Organizing Council (PLOC) met today for a party and direct action at the Woodlawn home of Alicia Jackson. The group and Jackson are celebrating three months since Jackson moved back into her foreclosed home on May Day. Jackson’s double-wide property fell into foreclosure last year and was bought by investment group Fox Capital. The company kept Jackson’s home empty, but built a new duplex on the lot, which Jackson’s supporters say was also empty for months. After the apparent success of moving Jackson back into her house on May Day, the Occupy-offshoot PLOC returned this afternoon and somehow gained access to the empty duplex.

PLOC organizer Taran Connelly says the group planned to use the duplex for community meetings and were hoping to plant a community garden in its backyard. According to Connelly, about six people were in the house at 11:30 tonight when police arrived and came into the house, making one arrest. Currently, there are several police cars at the site and there has been a call-out for Occupy activists to come to the scene.

Connelly isn’t sure what the group will do next, but says it’s too soon to give up on the empty-space-conversion plan. “This is the bank making their second move,” says Connelly. “What we’re going to do is work in the community to assert our right to use community space.”

Updates as I have them!

Update 12:50am: The group has also put out a statement on the action tonight.

Update 8:45am: The police just sent out their press release on this. It bears the headline, “Police arrest man squatting in residence.”

The owner of the property told police that he arrived to find signs of a burglary and believed people may still be inside.

The house immediately west of the duplex is associated with squatters from the Occupy Portland movement, evidenced by the signs in the front yard and large group of Occupiers standing in the front yard.

As officers approached the duplex they observed a large banner (approximately 15′) hanging in from the front porch of the duplex which read, “Together we are unevictable.”

Officers discovered that the lockbox had been removed from the front door and another lockbox had been removed from the gas meter. Officers looking through the front door could clearly see that furniture had been moved and there was a grocery bag on the kitchen floor.

Officers and the homeowner entered the backyard to find that all the fencing between the duplex and the house to the west (Occupy Portland) had been removed and was piled up in the backyard of the residence being squatted in by Occupy Portland supporters.

The homeowner was able to allow police entry to the duplex after breaching a window. Once inside officers arrested 24-year-old Derek John Charles Zika, who was crouched down by the front door. Zika had personal belongings in an upstairs bedroom and it appeared he had just taken a shower in the upstairs bathroom. The grocery bag in the kitchen contained 2 new sets of door locks that did not belong to the homeowner.

Zika was arrested and charged with Burglary in the First Degree and Criminal Trespass in the First Degree.

I guess you could also spin it this way:

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Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

14 replies on “Police Squelch Plans to “Liberate” NE Portland Property”

  1. “The group and Jackson are celebrating three months since Jackson moved back into her foreclosed home on May Day.” Nice! Way to go and a big atta boy

  3. And by “the empty-space-conversion plan” you mean breaking into someone else’s house and changing the locks?

    The Mercury still hasn’t done an accounting of how much money Alicia Jackson originally “liberated” from her home through loans she didn’t pay back. Hence the foreclosure.

    “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
    -Eric Hoffer

    I think Occupy may have skipped a step.

  5. What would happen if we all just started “liberating” stuff that others owned and we hadn’t paid for?

    …Anarchy…

    …PLOC…

    Black Bloc….I see now.

  7. Honestly, I’ve thought the occupiers were stupid and this just confirms it. Did they really think that breaking into a building that they don’t own, nor have they paid for, was okay?

    The Occupy Movement is filled with the homeless and unemployed who should really be using all this time to secure work, not trying to break into this or that or parade around the city carrying signs, thinking it will make a difference. It’s really not.

    You want to make a difference in something? Then do it, but stay away from the Occupy Losers.

  8. Yeah but nah. There’s no real positive way to spin this. It ain’t activism — it’s brazenly illegal and will illicit sympathy from no one.

  10. The update on what actually happened: http://www.liberatepdx.org/?p=434
    Sunday night, August 5th, at approximately 11pm, six officers from the Portland Police forced their way into a newly created community center inside of a duplex owned by Alicia Jackson, and arrested one person inside. The duplex was reclaimed earlier in the day by approximately 250 people from the surrounding community during a neighborhood block party. The duplex was built on land that belongs to Ms. Jackson, which had been illegally foreclosed on by the banks in 2011.

    “The neighbors have shown that they support this community center and are opposed to this duplex contributing to the gentrification of this neighborhood. The police came in tonight protecting the banks and the developers that are selling out our community and profiting out of the pockets of working people,” says Alicia Jackson. “Developers should not be allowed to profit from stolen land.”

    Keep reading here:http://www.liberatepdx.org/?p=434

  13. Blabby:

    That would take actual reporting which would only subvert the narrative.

    Ms. Jackson should consult an attorney from someone outside of the “movement” about the real consequences of her being used by the “movement,” e.g. the sheriff’s eviction when local company and lawful owner of the property Fox Capital decides to evict her and the associated court costs and, possibly, legal fees she’ll be on the hook for.

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