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Police Use Teargas on Occupy Oakland; 300 Arrested
Police fired tear gas and used flash-grenades to disperse hundreds of people after Saturday's peaceful 'Occupy Oakland' demonstration.
Members of the Oakland Police department form a line during a confrontation with Occupy Oakland demonstrators near the Oakland Museum of California in Oakland, California January 28, 2012. Police fired tear gas at hundreds of Occupy Oakland protesters who tried to occupy a shuttered convention center on Saturday, arresting 19 people in the latest clash between anti-Wall Street activists and authorities in the California city. REUTERS/Stephen Lam Protesters gathered at a central plaza and then over 2,000 marched through the city streets planning to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser convention center. Occupy Oakland said last week that they planned to move into the building and turn it into a social center and political hub.
When the protesters started tearing down sections of the fence surrounding the vacant convention center, police issued a warning to disperse, and when protesters failed to do so, police officers went on to disperse them by force.
Late Saturday night, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last autumn, called on the Occupy movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."
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UPDATE: This morning Occupy Oakland issued the following statement:
Oakland Police Violate Their Own Policies
Oakland, CA – Yesterday, the Oakland Police deployed hundreds of officers in riot gear so as to prevent Occupy Oakland from putting a vacant building to better use. This is a building which has sat vacant for 6 years, and the city has no current plans for it. The Occupy Oakland GA passed a proposal calling for the space to be turned into a social center, convergence center and headquarters of the Occupy Oakland movement.
With all the problems in our city, should preventing activists from putting a vacant building to better use be their highest priority? Was it worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent?The police actions tonight cost the city of Oakland hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they repeatedly violated their own crowd control guidelines and protester’s civil rights.
With all the problems in our city, should preventing activists from putting a vacant building to better use be their highest priority? Was it worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars they spent?
The OPD is facing receivership based on actions by police in the past, and they have apparently learned nothing since October. On October 25, Occupiers rushed to the aid of Scott Olsen who was shot in the head by police, and the good Samaritans who rushed to his aid had a grenade thrown at them by police. At 3:30pm this afternoon, OO medics yet again ran to the aid of injured protesters lying on the ground. Other occupiers ran forward and used shields to protect the medic and injured man. The police then repeatedly fired less lethal rounds at these people trying to protect and help an injured man.
Around the same time, officers #419, #327, and others were swinging batons at protesters in a violation of OPD crowd control policy, which allows for pushing or jabbing with batons, but not the swinging of them.
In the evening, police illegally kettled and arrested hundreds of protesters. Police can give notices to disperse, if a group is engaged in illegal activity. However, if the group disperses and reassembles somewhere else, they are required to give another notice to disperse. Tonight, they kettled a march in progress, and arrested hundreds for refusing to disperse. Contrary to their own policy, the OPD gave no option of leaving or instruction on how to depart. These arrests are completely illegal, and this will probably result in another class action lawsuit against the OPD, who have already cost Oakland $58 million in lawsuits over the past 10 years.
OPD Crowd Control Policy: “If after a crowd disperses pursuant to a declaration of unlawful assembly and subsequently participants assemble at a different geographic location where the participants are engaged in non-violent and lawful First Amendment activity, such an assembly cannot be dispersed unless it has been determined that it is an unlawful assembly and the required official declaration has been adequately given.”
“The announcements shall also specify adequate egress or escape routes. Whenever possible, a minimum of two escape/egress routes shall be identified and announced.”
“When the only violation present is unlawful assembly, the crowd should be given an opportunity to disperse rather than face arrest.”
At least 4 journalists were arrested in this kettling. They include Susie Cagle, Kristen Hanes, Vivian Ho who were arrested and then released, and Gavin Aronsen who was taken to jail.
One woman was in terrible pain from the cuffs. Dozens of fellow arrestees shouted at the OPD to check her cuffs. But, contrary to their own policy, the OPD refused and simply threw her in a paddy wagon.
OPD Crowd Control Policy: “Officers should be cognizant that flex-cuffs may tighten when arrestees’ hands swell or move … When arrestees complain of pain from overly tight flex cuffs, members shall examine the cuffs to ensure proper fit”
“Through everything that has happened since September, from Occupy to the acceleration of “Bills” — NDAA, SOPA, PIPA, ACTA — never have I felt so helpless and enraged as I do tonight. These kids are heroes” -- Cathy Jones, attorney, National Lawyers GuildNumerous protesters were injured: some shot with “less lethal” rounds, some affected by tear gas, and some beaten by police batons. There are no totals yet for the numbers of protesters injured. One 19 year old woman was taken to the hospital with internal bleeding after she was beaten by Officer #119.
Cathy Jones, an attorney with the NLG gave the following statement to Occupy Oakland’s media team: “Through everything that has happened since September, from Occupy to the acceleration of “Bills” — NDAA, SOPA, PIPA, ACTA — never have I felt so helpless and enraged as I do tonight. These kids are heroes, and the rest of the country needs to open its collective eyes and grab what remains of its civil rights, because they are evaporating, quickly. Do you want to know what a police state looks like? Well, you sure as hell still do not know unless you were watching our citizen journalists.”
Today, Occupy Oakland events continue all day with a festival in Oscar Grant (Frank Ogawa) Plaza:
Occupy Oakland is an emerging social movement without leaders or spokespersons. It is in solidarity with occupations currently occurring around the world in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Oakland Media is a committee of Occupy Oakland, established by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly.
CONTACT:
Occupy Oakland Media Committee
(510) 473-6250
media@occupyoakland.org
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Occupy Oakland demonstrators run over a fence in an attempt to escape from the police encirclement during a day-long protest in Oakland, California January 28, 2012. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
ABC news reports:
Kristin Hanes of ABC News San Francisco station KGO was one of several reporters briefly arrested.
“We were all walking down the same street and they kind of – they came at us from both sides, issued us a dispersal notice but there wasn’t really, you know, anywhere to go,” said Hanes.
“They kind of herded us all into this little area, pushed up to this building and I heard a bullhorn saying that you are being arrested and we are essentially surrounded, kind of pushed together like sardines here,” Hanes added.
Hanes was eventually released and de-handcuffed.
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64 Comments so far
Show AllFire the gas
The more you do
The more we mass.
OCCUPY IT ALL
YOU CAN USE PUBLIC FUNDING.
As the economic disparities increase, the complete lack of empathy from those in charge becomes more and more apparent. Obama praised the troops repeatedly in his war mongering state of the disunion speech, but never once mentioned the Occupiers. This campaign season has shown us voters cheering at the plight of others, that will result in 4 more years of Obama the Child Slayer, because "liberals" can stomach the slaughter of Muslims, but brutality against the Occupiers, not so much. So no matter what, we get a monster for a president.
I do not understand all of this republican and general right wing hatred of Obama. He is a Republican's wet dream. And they call him a Socialist, a Marxist. They call him a "Saul Alinsky radical" without providing any information at all about Saul Alinsky. He is every bit the rightwing warmonger and banker suckup that was George Bush. I just do not understand the hatred.
So referring to police baton in this sense is completely correct.
Like them or not, the TP holds real power whilst OWS holds potential power. As long as that is not converted to real electoral gains, it is just a bunch of demonstrators out costing cities money to clean up after.
They are confrontational, but not violent.
Power must be confronted when required, and in my view we are living in times that require it.
The convention center was vacated because it needed to be replaced. Why did it need to be replaced? This is where reality is fogged up and you have to make a choice between your own instinct and elite propaganda. Frightfully, Merkans have been listening to the elite propaganda for decades, instead of their own instincts. And this is how the empire has fed itself, and grown, into the monster that it is today.
Listen to your own instincts and you will find that the convention center in Oakland was closed so that a new convention center could be built, ultimately to contribute further to the economic expansion of the Merkan empire. Replacing arenas and convention centers, after oh twenty years, is just one piece of the elites' mindless, heartless, soulless strategy of ekonomic growath, ultimately to achieve domineering influence over the planet.
In contrast to that stupidity, we on the far-left have a great appreciation for ideas of stability and permanence. We are building a stable alter-economy, with a vision of permanence that guides infrastructure design. Planned obsolescence is not part of our strategy. We appreciate how things were done in the distant past, when things were built to last and where prices were stable. We're moving away from the "supply-side" idiocy of modern Merka, of the Chicago School of Ekonomics. And if the "supply-siders" built a convention center that they abandoned after a couple of decades, so they can build a new one, we'll occupy it. And if they stand in our way, we'll further smash their "planned obsolescence" ideas, their ekonomic growath imperative, and their domineering imperial ideology, by shifting our exchange/association away from them and toward our local communities. Keep it up people! Occupy your own senses!
Do you know anything about the convention center? It was built in 1914 with no seismic engineering. That is, it is 98 years old a mile from where the Cyprus Freeway collapsed and it needs to be seismically retrofitted. It was dilapidated in the 50s and 60s when it was the home of the Oakland Skates Rollerderby team. It was renovated in 84, but not that thoroughly. At the time it was closed, it was estimated to need 9 million dollars of renovations to be reopened. At the same time Oakland is many many millions of dollars (about 30) in debt right now and is getting rid of about 400 employees next month. Redoing the building is not going to happen anytime soon.
Now, it is us, infinitely more powerful than Germany or Italy ever was.
You'd better hope for, pray for, and work for the survival of the Occupy movement.
If you read some history, you will see where this is going.
Is it clear now who the tyrants are? Is it clear yet how the enemy "plays?" Is it clear yet what is going on in this "land of the free and home of the brave?"
Is it clear just how biased the mainstream media is, and how much in the hip pocket of the powers that be?
This ain't no playground, Mayor Quan, something you evidently will have to learn the hard way. But fascists like you may be playing the role of Marie Antoinnette. Soon enough you'll find out that the 99 percent are "playing" for real, and those who stand in the way of the *fight* for liberty and justice are putting their own heads on the chopping block.
You have the trappings of power and authority. WE have the numbers, WE have the power, WE have the might.
Dear tough guy:
You go get 'em, tiger.
Is a "hail of bullets" against "idiots" what you are hoping to see?
Equating the occupation and use of a vacant building with "stealing" is revealing.
You probably cannot see, or will deny, that all of your blather in this post is about protecting the existing order, that is to say the prerogatives of the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the many, even to the extent of your "hail of bullets" being directed at people, and nothing whatsoever to do with the supposed morality issues you present. You reveal that rule of law, ownership, property, and legal rights are all just cover for total control by the few, and that the police are there to enforce the rule by the few. So, you actually agree with all of us. You are simply taking the other side, standing with and defending the wealthy and powerful few and their system for controlling the rest of us.
That is all fine. What you are saying is nothing new or exciting, or even very interesting. There will always be those among the slaves who side with master, in the hopes of getting some benefit from that or at least gaining a sense of power by kissing ass to the powerful and thereby escape for a little while full recognition of just how miserable their existence is.
But you must know that you have declared yourself to be a dangerous and anti-social person, not to be trusted or listened to. No clever lines you spout will change that, nor will any imagined "wins" you achieve in the discussion. That will nag at you, and increase your torment, no matter what any of us say. The more you try to gain real or imaginary "points" with the big dogs by smashing others, the more alone and dissatisfied you will become. The more you spout this stuff, the more deeply trapped you will be in your own private Hell. I don't envy you.
Likely to fail if there is not a parallel attempt to open up the buildings through official, legal channels, though.
Here's hoping Occupy Oakland is pursuing that as well as this.
You are tempting fate. Expect harrassment from your local police. They will trump up charges and plant evidence. Beware. Be careful.
This change from local police under local control into federalized police forces and the passage of NDAA (stripping citizens of this nation of their rights to a trial if accused of a crime and allowing the armed forces of the American army to be used against the citizens of the United States on American soil) is because THEY ARE AFRAID OF US.
The federal government, which is corrupt to the core, is taking actions to imprison us if we are not good obedient sheeple. The concentration camps are ready to hold thousands of us and they now have the right to send us off to a foreign nation for enhanced interrogation. We are living in a fascist POLICE STATE.
It will soon be time for a national election. You must vote out everyone in Congress now and hope that your vote will be counted.
Our democracy is on the ropes. Our planet is dying. Our civil rights have been deleted. We are at a point of crisis in so many ways. Your involvement is needed. Join the Occupy movement. You are needed, and you will be in good company. WE, THE PEOPLE, like it says in our Constitution. Stand up and BE, we the people..