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Occupy Oakland Plans Building Takeover Saturday

OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Occupy Oakland activists said Wednesday that they plan to take over a vacant building at an undisclosed location somewhere in the city on Saturday to establish a new home, social center and meeting space for the movement.

Speaking at a news conference on the steps of City Hall Wednesday morning, Occupy Oakland spokesman Leo Ritz-Barr said the action "signals a new direction for the Occupy movement: putting vacant buildings at the service of the community."

Ritz-Barr said there will be a two-day party at the seized building that will be called the "Oakland Rise Up Festival" and will include special events, speakers, music and workshops.

He said protesters plan to gather at Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall at noon on Saturday and then march to the takeover location, which is being kept secret for now.

>>Occupy Protesters Shut Down Oakland City Council Meeting

Another Occupy Oakland spokesman read a letter to Mayor Jean Quan, the City Council and the Police Department that states that if the city again tries to evict Occupy Oakland activists, "we will make your lives more miserable than ours."

The spokesman said protesters could retaliate against any action by police and city officials by blocking Oakland International Airport, occupying City Hall, shutting down the Port of Oakland or calling on the activist group Anonymous for solidarity.

Ritz-Barr said, "We all know what happens when Anonymous gets involved."

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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