Spartan Daily

Occupy San Jose protesters march on city official's homes

Jeffrey Cianci, Spartan Daily

Shaun "Cracker" O'Kelly (right), leads Occupy San Jose protestors outside San Jose City Manager Debra Figone's home on Sunday night.

A group of about 20 Occupy San Jose members protested outside the homes of Mayor Chuck Reed and City Manager Debra Figone on Saturday afternoon, returning to Figone's residence again Sunday night.

Occupy protester Nathan Roybal said the protests stemmed from the group's frustration with City Hall and its handling of the Occupy San Jose movement.

"We didn't expect for her (Figone) to come out and speak to us last night, but we wanted to make our presence known and make it known that we would like to start a dialogue," Roybal said of protests outside Figone's home Saturday. "We're going to keep going back until she's willing to come out and talk to the group and address the issues of our constituents."

In a memo released Thursday addressed to the city council, assistant city manager Ed Shikada wrote, "The City has continued to work with this group to respect their free speech while enforcing City code and policy on use of the plaza and public grounds,” noting that occupiers have abided by neither city regulations regarding plaza closing hours nor the prohibition on camping at the site.

In addition to being removed from the plaza outside City Hall by police on Wednesday, protester Shaun O'Kelly, who had been perched on top of City Hall for more than three weeks, complied with a police cease and desist order by removing himself from the wall late Friday night.

O'Kelly, who calls himself "Cracker," said a police officer he spoke with told him there is currently no warrant out for his arrest nor had any charges been filed with the city attorney for his occupation on top of city hall.

O'Kelly, who helped organize the protests at Reed's and Figone's homes, said he is upset with what he describes as oppression of their freedom of speech.

"Saturday was a national call to action to protest state suppression of the occupy movement and I thought 'Who's been oppressing us more than the city?'" he said. "If they're going to kick us out of our homes, we're going to go to their homes." 

Eddie Cisneros, who protested Saturday evening at Figone's home, said they were not able to speak with the city manager, but her husband came out to yell at the protesters gathered in front of their home.

"We asked if we could just have a word with his wife and he said, 'There is no way she's coming out. This is her day off, you guys shouldn't be here,'" Cisneros said, adding that a neighbor of Figone's came over to talk him down and back into the home.

During Occupy San Jose's general assembly Sunday, other protesters aired their concerns over the protests at Figone's and Reed's homes, saying it may be counterproductive to a public defender's efforts to acquire a permit from the city.

The public defender, who wished not to be named, told the general assembly they are currently waiting to hear from the city manager's office on a permit to protest at City Hall and more protests at city officials' homes may compromise the process.

With many Occupy San Jose protesters arguing the same, the general assembly voted to no longer support such protests at city officials' homes, making a final stop to Figone's Sunday evening.

Eight protesters returned to Figone's Rose Garden home, where Cracker led the group in chants such as, "make Figone pay, we can be here all day."

While figures were visible in the home, neither Figone nor her husband addressed the protesters Sunday evening.

However several police officers arrived to watch over the protest.

Lt. Rob Millard quickly addressed the protesters outside Figone's home, telling them they could practice their freedom of speech as long as they kept moving and stayed off the property.

"We're not here to stop anybody from exercising their freedom of speech movements, but we just want to make sure nobody gets hurt or out of hand, but we don't expect that," Millard said.