The Occupy movement in Minnesota has not quite gone into hibernation, as evidenced by a couple of Minneapolis protests last week. Demonstrators marched to an abandoned church in the Elliott Park neighborhood on Saturday, removed plywood from the front door and went inside. Two police squad cars turned up Saturday afternoon and officers gave the protesters a half hour to leave the former First Church of Christ, Scientist at 614 15th St. E. After the protesters were cleared out, the police arranged to have the church's front and side door boarded up again.

You can watch the protesters' account of their 45 minute occupation on a video.

Saturday's protest was in solidarity with a demonstration in Oakland, where officials arrested hundreds after an attempted occupation of an office building and vandalism at City Hall. The local protest was designed "to demonstrate that people have the power to reclaim and liberate spaces" even as people are being thrown out of their homes because of foreclosures.

Last Wednesday, Occupy demonstrators staged a sit-in at US Bank's lobby in downtown Minneapolis in support of Monique White and Bobby Hull, two Minneapolis homeowners who are each trying to stop their foreclosure evictions. The protesters turned over a petition they said contained 6,500 names, asking US Bank to negotiate with the homeowners to keep them in their homes, said Nick Espinosa, one of the protest organizers. Three people were arrested when they refused to leave. The protesters were demanding the bank agree to meet with the two homeowners.