On Wednesday January 20, 2016 the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office issued
arrest warrants for 4 organizers working with the non-profit Land Action. The organizers now face 7 criminal charges-3 of which are felonies, up to 8.5 years imprisonment and $89,000 in fines . Among the allegations is that these organizers were involved in a “Conspiracy to Trespass,” a common charge used to target civil rights organizers.

Hundreds of abandoned/vacant properties have been occupied in the Bay Area in recent decades.
Disputes over these properties generally remain in the civil realm. In the overwhelming majority of
cases, the court rules in the title-holder's favor and the occupiers are ordered to leave. Very rarely do
they end with arrests, and never before have they resulted in felony charges. But this time, the DA has
pushed what has historically been considered a civil matter into criminal court.

The criminal charges are brought against members of Land Action who occupied an abandoned property
in Oakland, California that had fallen into disrepair. Land Action assisted the homeless social justice
organizers seek shelter in the property while assuming responsibility for maintenance and rehabilitation.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is targeting these housing rights organizers at a time
when there is an acute housing crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area. On January 5, 2016 the Oakland
City Council adopted an Ordinance declaring a shelter crisis.

Help support our organizers by donating to their legal defense fees, which up to now have accrued to $3,500.