16 SOUL Activists Arrested After Occupying Mortgage Bankers Conference

Joe Schoffstall | October 12, 2011
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On Monday, October 10, 2011, activists from Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (S.O.U.L) stormed the annual Mortgage Bankers Conference at the Hyatt Hotel in Chicago, IL resulting in the arrests of 16 people. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) spoke to the protesters before they occupied the building.

At 9:30 pm the day of the arrests, one man arrested in the video appears to be speaking to Lisa Fithian, the anarchist leader behind Occupy Wall Street. (For picture, click here.)

Byron York from the Washington Examiner described Lisa as the following in 2005:

"Fithian is a legendary organizer who operates in the world of anti-globalism anarchists, antiwar protesters, and union activists; an advocate of aggressive “direct action” demonstrations, she protested the first Gulf war, played an important role in the violent shutdown of Seattle during the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting, was a key planner in protests at the Republican and Democratic national conventions in 2000 and 2004, and organized demonstrations at trade meetings in Washington, D.C., Prague, and Genoa."

According to Fithian's website, she joined the labor movement in 1993 through the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute. She worked on a Teamsters hospital campaign as well as the United Auto Workers.  Recently, Lisa has provided training to groups including the new Students for a Democratic Society.

Here's Fithian being interviewed by a local news outlet during the "Occupy Wall Street" protests saying no one person is behind the protests.

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