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Minneapolis police Monday arrested nine protesters who broke into an abandoned fourplex in south Minneapolis to rally for more low-cost housing for the city's growing homeless population.
"People are fed up without having the basic necessities of life," said Chuck Viebahn, one of those arrested. He is a cofounder of People United For Economic Justice, the Minneapolis-based group that planned the takeover at 3013-15 Clinton Av. S.
The protesters moved sleeping bags and cots into the condemned building before police arrived. An anarchist flag flew from a second-story window. Those arrested face charges of trespassing and occupying a condemned building, said police Capt. T.J. Whelan.
"No room at the inn 2,000 years ago, and no room at the inn today. Welcome to America," said Mark Prather, spokesman for the Minneapolis Alliance of the Streets.
The arrests followed a noon rally staged on behalf of the city's homeless at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis. Protesters promised more demonstrations until their demands for more low-income housing are met.
"We are going to fight for what we want. We are going to fight for homes," said Don Caton, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the National Union of the Homeless, which held its founding convention Saturday. "It's always been the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. . . . We...