UPDATE: All 14 arrestees have been released from jail. The final one was released after being held on probable cause for over 20 hours.

UPDATE: (Photos below by Peter Leeman–Even MORE can be found here: http://peterleeman.tumblr.com/)

The 14 arrests Wednesday at the Cruz home bring this week’s total to 23 during 5 eviction attempts.

At 8:45PM, over 100 people gathered to link arms around the Cruz family home, sitting peaceably singing “We Shall Not Be Moved.”  By approximately 9:30PM, occupiers had reclaimed the Cruz home.

High Quality Photos: http://peterleeman.tumblr.com/

UPDATE: Thanks to massive public pressure, our courageous friends who put their bodies on the line to defend the Cruz home will be released tonight on $100 bail! We will celebrate in a safe space with the Cruz family and the arrestees at the home of Gerardo Cajamarca, who is also fighting an upcoming eviction, starting at 6:00pm 5613 Standish Ave.

We are still here and are currently negotiating with PNC bank!

UPDATE: Alejandra and David brought their door that the sherrifs smashed in at 4am this morning and 75 supporters chanted and redecorated Sheriff Stanek’s office for over an hour until they finally agreed to meet with the family to explain why they attempted to evict the family for the second time in 48 hours in full knowledge that PNC Bank was actively negotiating with the family to find a peaceful solution.

UPDATE: Community members will hold an emergency 12:00pm press conference and march on Sheriff Stanek’s office from the steps of City Hall to denounce him for authorizing the violent eviction of the home while the family is in active negotiations with the bank to peacefully resolve the situation. They will demand he stop trying to evict the home while the bank is working to resolve the issue.
UPDATE: Sheriffs have said they will hold the arrestees until TUESDAY. Call sheriff Stanek to demand they release them IMMEDIATELY. Ask him why his deputies are evicting a family negotiating with the bank and to demand he stop these senseless attacks on our community. (612)348-3744

Platoons of sheriffs descended on the Cruz family home in a 4 am raid today, arresting five nonviolent supporters in the second failed eviction attempt in 48 hours. Fifty protesters mobilized to defend the home and outflanked the sheriffs by marching through the alley into backyard, causing the sheriffs to retreat without fully securing the home. Members of Occupy Homes MN remain inside the home as of 7 am this morning.

“An army of sheriffs marched in military-style and busted down the door in the dead of night,” said Ben Egerman, an organizer with Occupy Homes MN. “It’s unconscionable that Sheriff Stanek ordered the violent eviction of this home a second time, especially when he is fully aware of active negotiations between the family and the bank to resolve the situation peacefully.”

Several protesters, who had locked themselves to structures in and around the home, sustained minor injuries as sheriffs forcibly removed them from the balcony and roof with jackhammers and electric saws. The condition of arrested persons remains unknown.

Occupy Homes MN has been defending the home in a round-the-clock eviction blockade since April 30 to demand PNC Bank negotiate with the Cruz family, who fell into foreclosure when the bank failed to withdraw their online payment.

The second eviction attempt came hours after Occupy Pittsburgh delivered a giant letter to PNC Bank Executive Vice President Dan Taylor, who committed to working with the family to modify their loan.

“It’s clear that Sheriff Stanek would rather kick families out of their homes than work with our communities,” said Martha Ockenfels-Martinez of Occupy Homes. “We’re still here and we will not be moved from this home until we see a good faith negotiation.”

High Quality photos here: http://peterleeman.tumblr.com/

Sheriffs and police retreated today after over 100 community members surrounded a foreclosed home while others locked themselves to half-ton concrete barrels to prevent the eviction. Six sheriffs attempted to evict the Cruz family home around 3:30 this afternoon, which members of Occupy Homes MN have been defending in a round-the-clock eviction blockade for over three weeks.

Protesters surround and defend the Cruz home after sheriffs retreat. Photo: Peter Leeman

“Sheriff Richard Stanek should be ashamed of himself for authorizing the eviction of the Cruz family’s home just days after we sent a delegation to his office to inform him that PNC was negotiating with the family. It appears he would rather throw families on the street at the banks’ request than work with our communities,” said Martha Ockenfels-Martinez, an organizer with Occupy Homes MN.

When sheriffs arrived to evict the home, protesters locked themselves to structures inside the home with bike locks. Sheriffs attempted to cut them out, but within 30 minutes over 100 supporters had arrived, and sheriffs retreated from the home. Police blocked traffic at either end of the street for over an hour, then also left the home to the activists who had gathered to defend it.

Shortly afterward PNC Bank contacted Occupy Homes MN to request the necessary documents for a loan modification for the Cruz family. However, the home remains under threat of imminent eviction.

The Cruz home went into foreclosure in 2011 when PNC failed to withdraw an online mortgage payment and then demanded two months’ payment as punishment. Unable to pay more than the current month’s payment, the family home fell into foreclosure.

“We’re asking PNC Bank to correct their error and negotiate a mortgage that allows the Cruz family to stay in their home,” explained Ockenfels-Martinez. “We’ll do whatever it takes for them to come to the table.”

Today’s attempted eviction took place despite the fact that a representative from PNC Bank reached out to Occupy Homes last week and committed to ask Freddie Mac to hold off on the eviction.

Alejandra and David Cruz have been active community members in the Twin Cities who have tirelessly advocated for the DREAM Act and educational equity for immigrant students.

“My family and I have been fighting for justice all our lives,” said Alejandra Cruz. “Now we stand together with other homeowners across Minnesota fighting unjust banking practices. Change is coming, and we’re going to make that change happen.”

Tomorrow morning a delegation from Minnesota will deliver a giant letter to PNC Bank’s national headquarters in Pittsburgh from supporters asking them to negotiate with the family.

This action comes fresh off Occupy Homes MN’s precedent-setting victory of Monique White’s mortgage renegotiation after a public seven-month struggle that garnered national and international media attention.

More High Quality photos here: http://peterleeman.tumblr.com/

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