Artist Alex Schaefer turns chalking into an act of civil disobedience against the collusion between banks and state.

Alex was arrested and charged with misdemeanor vandalism. His bail was set at $1,000.

via Occupy Los Angeles:

On July 12th, participants in OccupyLA met to raise awareness for unlawful arrests of activists that had been targeting a lobby group with a stranglehold on power over local and state politics. The activists handed out chalk and shared the story of unlawful arrests and police repression. The LAPD responded by amassing in riot gear and issuing a tactical alert effectively shutting down the Downtown LA art walk and trapping many patrons inside of local businesses as a response to chalk art being drawn on the sidewalk. The mainstream media misrepresented the sequence of events, blaming occupiers for the near riot in Downtown LA even though the police were responsible for escalation.

The public, frustrated by the absurdity of police violence over 'sidewalk chalk', filled the streets demanding that the police cease their intimidation over what many consider a fundamental right to free speech and assembly. The law enforcement arm of the state saw fit to intervene violently in a peaceful expression of free speech and 'do it yourself' art, on behalf of the private interests that control the downtown space. They shot the crowd with the near lethal force of rubber bullets and foam grenades inciting fear and panic so that their violent intervention appears justified. In light of recent police murders in Anaheim, it is important we show that crowd control tactics taken against any who dare protest are not acceptable uses of force by any police state. More than that, these acts of terror by the police state will not deter us from assembling and seeking justice for our communities.

The political and financial elite cannot bear to see us assemble, cannot bear for us to share ideas and strategies or grow our vision and movement into revolution. We know that this is not about chalk. It is about whose interests are affected by our message, whose interests are protected when so-called public servants protect lifeless sidewalks from the messages of a frustrated populace. It is about censorship, political freedom and the merger of corporation and state working to silence the voice of the people. It is about the extrajudicial authority of the national security apparatus for the mere purpose of intimidating the masses into silence.

On August 9th, Occupy Los Angeles calls for you to fill your squares and take your streets and sidewalks with chalk. Call to all people everywhere to show that dissent is as simple as writing your grievances on the sidewalk, as accessible as hopscotch in the streets- reclaiming public space and engaging in public dialogue and expression. Join us (if you're close enough) for a day of solidarity and fun to celebrate the human spirit and chalk for our collective liberation. Together we will remake the art of public life in our alley ways, on the doorsteps of banks whose only allegiance is to profit, and in the streets built by our labor.

In solidarity, regardless of all nations and borders, we will engage in willful public expression against political repression.

SUBMIT CHALK PHOTOS HERE: http://chalkitout.tumblr.com/

NOTE: Be aware that your actions make evoke a police response and it is important all participants are familiar with local private and public property laws so that they can assess their own level of risk and make informed decisions.

It seems that in Los Angeles, California, it isn't chalking that's illegal. It's the message. Participants of Chalk Walk Respond to Mayor’s Statement & Selective Enforcement here.

You can't arrest an idea.

A federal court awarded $200,000 in the case of an Orlando activist, Timothy Osamar, who was imprisoned for 18 days after scribbling with chalk “The revolution will not be televised” and “All I want for Christmas is a revolution” in front of city hall last December:

Via:

Osamar was arrested for violating a city ordinance prohibiting "writing or painting advertising matter on streets or sidewalks." He was the first person to be charged with the ordinance - and also the first person to challenge it. You see, Osamar was a member of Occupy Orlando and his 'advertising matter' was political in nature. Yes, there's an Amendment for that.

Osamar was paid $6,000 in damages while his three lawyers split $35,000. But the city's biggest payouts went to its own lawyers - two separate agencies charging $83,293 and $72,070 for a grand total of $155,363. A spokeswoman for Orlando told the Orlando Sentinel the city had no choice in the matter, "The city of Orlando was the defendant in the lawsuit and had no choice but to provide a defense."

Just last week, an art event in Los Angeles, the "Chalk Walk," was stormed by LAPD clad in riot gear with many arrests and rubber bullet injuries.

More videos surfaced online on Sunday of the LAPD violence at Thursday’s Downtown LA Art Walk.

Many helicopters hover above the streets. Full riot gear was worn by some officers during the ordeal. Rubber bullets and other projectiles were in use. The police were very aggressive. All this over chalk painting on the sidewalk?

In the video above at 4:49, you can see a man in a white t-shirt shot at very close range with a projectile weapon. He falls to the ground and is clearly incapacitated. After the man stumbles to the ground, two Occupiers come to his aid but police move in, chase the occupiers off, 14 officers surround the man, while one officers kicks the man in the face, then other officers smash his face into the pavement, and violently arrested him.

This next video shows the incident from ground level:

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via Occupy Los Angeles

We are occupying!!!

Join LA CAN, Occupy the Hood, Occupy Skid Row and Occupy Los Angeles at Wilshire/Hope (626 Wilshire Blvd.) at 8:30pm tonight to fight gentrification and the corrupt practices of the lobby group Central City Association. BRING TENT.

We are peacefully gathering to protest the Economic Development Meeting and the downtown 2020 plan to build new high rises, the AEG Stadium and further criminalize and push out the homeless. The CCA is the localized manifestation and microcosm of everything wrong with policy, the 1% and obsession with wealth and prestige. In this hyper-localized resistance, everyone must fight the bully in their respective backyards, as a community.

We have power in numbers and will be OCCUPYING the CCA, who monitors the public spaces of downtown with private security for the one percent. Red shirt, green shirt, purple shirt, police all working together to criminalize the homeless, communities of color and more recently, to patrol protesters in the area.

Facebook event | Twitter: @OccupyLA

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Timothy Osmar, a 25-year-old homeless Occupy Orlando demonstrator spent three weeks in the Orange County jail after being arrested for using pink chalk to write on the sidewalk outside City Hall. He was released on Wednesday when the city prosecutor dropped the charges.

But, he was back doing the same thing in front of City Hall on the day of his release.

"I am ready and willing, after a bit of a breather, to do it all again," Osmar said shortly after his release. "I would really look forward to challenging this in court, to striking the ordinance so people can express themselves with chalk on the sidewalk."

"This was a guy who wanted to be arrested, by all accounts, and has been," Mayor Buddy Dyer said. "This guy was given every opportunity not to go to jail, but he chose to go to jail."

Osmar was charged with violating a city ordinance prohibiting "writing or painting advertising matter on streets or sidewalks." Among other things, Osmar had written, "This is not graffiti. It's democracy."

He was arrested Dec. 15 as he began to write "the revolution will not be televised" in chalk after police warned him to stop. After being released on bond, he returned to City Hall on Dec. 22 and wrote again: "All I want for Christmas is a revolution."

Osmar was arrested again, and this time he was held without bond.

The charges were dropped just a day after attorney Dick Wilson, who took Osmar's case for free, entered a "not guilty" plea on his client's behalf.

Wilson said the arrests were a clear violation of Osmar's First Amendment rights.

Take heed all tiny hop-scotch players in Florida. Oh, and don't forget to keep an eye out for the man if you're running one of those "illegal" lemonade stands,too.