Occupy SF Invades Vacant Church Property With Squatter Swarm

(The Blaze/AP)- Occupy protesters have invaded a vacant Archdiocese of San Francisco building, saying they will take it over permanently for use as a homeless shelter.

It's the first major action by Occupy San Francisco since dismantling of an Embarcadero encampment in December.

The anti-Wall Street demonstrators held a rally and march on Sunday and about 100 of the Occupy protesters entered the two-story building near archdiocesan headquarters at St. Mary's Cathedral.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that police stood by as protesters entered the vacant building. Archdiocese spokesman George Wesolek says church officials asked police not to take any action until a meeting on Monday.

The action was reminiscent of Occupy Wall Street's attempt in December to "Occupy the Clergy" by taking over the vacant, church owned "Duarte Square" lot in lower Manhattan. That effort failed when police made mass arrests.

The San Francisco Chronicle also wrote that an Occupy anti-police march occurred "across the bay in Oakland on Saturday night, [where] windows were broken and graffiti was scrawled on downtown buildings."

As for Occupiers on the East Coast, Occupy Wall Street marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday to mark the six months that have passed since hundreds of them were arrested walking the same route. This time, their numbers were in the low hundreds.

A couple of hundred activists marched from Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, where they first camped out last September to start a movement that has spread around the world. They were flanked by police officers on scooters and on foot.

The marchers used the pedestrian walkway to cross the bridge. The commemoration ended with a rally in Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza, which wrapped up just as rain started to fall.

There were only scattered arrests, according to reports.

Occupy Wall Street continues to spread propaganda and organize for its planned "General Strike on May Day, now being touted by Occupiers as "Occupy May 1st."