Unfortunately, the heavy-handed police response in Oakland, California that we posted about earlier has continued. Tuesday evening, and throughout the night, over 500 members or the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and 16 other agencies around central California arrested around 97 protesters at Occupy Oakland and dispersed hundreds more. Protesters who went to reoccupy the space at the Oakland Library were met with heavily armed riot police using tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades.
As in Boston, the Oakland Police Department’s use of force seriously injured an Occupy activist who was also an Iraq War veteran:
Scott Olsen, 24, remains sedated on a respirator, in stable but critical condition at Oakland’s Highland Hospital after being hit in the head with a police projectile . . . .
In another instance of misconduct, OPD treated Occupy Oakland street medics as an excuse to throw more firepower, lobbing a flash-bang grenade at a group of people trying to evacuate a protester who had been knocked out by police.
This video highlights the extreme tactics used by police to remove the peaceful protesters of Occupy Oakland:
This is what the OPD had to say after their actions:
Q. Did the Police deploy rubber bullets, flash-bag grenades?
A. No, the loud noises that were heard originated from M-80 explosives thrown at Police by protesters. In addition, Police fired approximately four bean bag rounds at protesters to stop them from throwing dangerous objects at the officers.
There are reports that some protesters may have thrown bottles, rocks, and possibly fireworks at police; however, it should be noted, that, as The Guardian reports,
The violence in Oakland is against a backdrop of a troubled city whose police force is notorious for its heavy-handedness and has been the subject of numerous allegations of abuse and police brutality.
Oakland City Hall claims that this is a “peaceful dispersion.” To the mayor we respond that this is an unqualified lie. We stand in solidarity with the protesters of Occupy Oakland. For further information we recommend their website: www.occupyoakland.org.
29 Responses to “Solidarity with Oakland”
Inexcusable. Systematic suppression of free-speech rights by force. Even if there were issues with the camp, it’s hard to justify the city’s reaction.
This cannot stand.
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There has never been a peaceful revolution.
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We need to take the reigns.
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The extermination of this young man at the hands of the system is a perfect reason to begin the riots.
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Communist revolution is hard work.
You can’t even be honest with yourself. Violent crowd was told to leave, they responded by throwing cherry bombs and bottles full of urine at cops. We do have a 1st ammendment, but doesn’t garuntee right for others to listen. You can protest freely according to the law. You are so brainwashed that I know it is futile to try to argue with you. The crazy lady that said 9/11 was a crime? It was an act of war. You don’t get it. The attempted genocide on israel is part of the ever growing caliphate of islam against the rest of the world. You can rub your peace beads all you want but we will soon be in an all out war with Iran not because we want to, but just like alqaeda, Iran has declared war on us. Lucky for us there are brave patriots that will protect your free loading rights. I see the 99% in osw will stop feeding the homeless and free loadfers, kind of how we feel about you.
That was the wrong move by the city.
I believe that people should obey the law, but SHAME on the Oakland police. When will they ever learn?
Shame on the cops? Did that article say an m-80 was thrown at them? Do peaceful protesters scream in people’s face? A peaceful reasonable person might move on if the cops told them to. Soon your group will be like the kkk and westboro baptists and you’ll have to hide behind the cops from people who are sick of you. Each video I’ve seen seems to show occupiers taunting and instigating. Hypocrites. They all got a camera shoved in someone’s face but-don’t come in my camp. Bullshit.
Do cops ever lie? Yes, they do. Do not believe statements from cops or protestors without further investigation. Thankfully, we live in an era of 1,000 video cameras, which do not lie. I hope Scott Olsen will live and will be okay. He may not. He served two tours of duty in Iraq for the United States of America, and he was trying to make this country a better place.
I gotcha even if nothing was thrown…they were told to leave. Just as in Boston and ny and elsewhere. Look at it objectively-an angry group had seized part of the city. The cops had to act. They do have a bad rep too but Oakland ain’t Mayberry. You guys gotta focus. Politics and the economy. Put your million other ways to save the world on the back burner for now. Violence is going to be the end of you. Just because your chanting this is a peaceful protest does not make it so.
Told to leave … do you do what the cops tell you to, when you’re told to leave for freely assembling and speaking in a public space? What kind of country do we live in? This was NOT a peaceful protest because the police used violence. Otherwise, show me the video of a protestor attacking anyone.
I was in a peaceful march in October 2001. About 50 people marching with signs, in Hartfor Connecticut, from a public park to Senator Lieberman’s office. We had a serious purpose, to protest the U.S. dropping bombs on Afghanistan that result in thousands of civilian deaths. My position was that the attack on the towers was a crime, so find the criminals — but don’t kill thousands of innocent people. This was an urgent message and we marched. The police told us to leave. Should we have left? Should we have? We were peaceful and voicing our position. We have that right in this country, don’t we? Then we were beaten and arrested, and one Vietnam vet got his ribs broken by police kicking him repreatedly. We got huge bails slapped on us and I was on trial for 8 months with felony charges (police said I was attacking them and throwing bottles — i did NOTHING of the kind) … In that situation, sir, should I have just gone home? Should I have done what the cops told me to do? They had no reasson to tell us to leave except that they didn’t want to see dissent. Then they used violence and lied and said that we used violence, then they used the court system to punish us for holding signs. I was fined $3,000 and was on trial for 8 months for holding as sign for human rights. I see the same thing happening in Oakland now and I an seriously mad about it! This will not stop the movement.
Yes sage I will leave a public place when ordered by police.
It should also be noted that police have been known to lie. I was arrested ten years ago this month in a peaceful protest, and not a single move of violence was made by any of the marching protestors, yet the police reports were filled with testimony that the protestors were throwing bottles at the police. My own police report said that I was doing so. I emphatically was NOT. We had a few videocameras but the police took them and destroyed the tapes. Nowadays, there are many more cameras, and if anyone was throwing anything at the police, it should be seen on camera somewhere, or else I find it doubtful, given my experience with police (Hartford police 2001, that is). If you want to support the Oakland crew, here’s a petition: http://www.civic.moveon.org/oaklandpolice/?id=32339-20016776-9YqPlhx&t=3
Bail was set at $10,000 for the detained protestors. Unless someone is a huge flight risk and charged with serious felonies, I think this is out of line. The purpose of bail is solely to ensure that the accused is likely to show up in court. It is unconstitutional to use it as punishment, which I think this feels like. A legal group should note the names of the arraigning judges, and shortly after, should bring a suit if there is sufficient cause to think that bail is being used punitively. How many people can come up with $10,000 on the spot, with the alternative being that they must remain in jail until their trial is done, which could be months? If they can’t make the $10,000 then they could pay $1,000 to a bail bondsman (their customary charge is 10%) but then they never get that $1,000 back, and in effect they are fined $1,000 for protesting, before ever receiving a trial. My bail for marching with a sign ten years ago was set at $35,000. That was punitive. I was not a flight risk, yet my friends had to pay $3,000 to a bail bonsdman. That’s the kind of thing i am bullshit about, and will work as hard as i can to defend others from going through the same hell. We need to reform our justice system, and we need to get RID of judges who abuse the justice system to repress freedom of speech.
CALL TO ACTION
Please sign petition “Stop The Police Repression Of Occupy Oakland” – they only have 20% of the 100,000 signatures they are seeking.
http://www.civic.moveon.org/oaklandpolice/?id=32339-20016589-J4H%3DbJx&t=3
If any organizers read this, maybe you can post on the home page?
Fuck police brutality! All the truth gets laid out for all to see.
This seriously has to be a joke. Paraphrasing here- protestors may have thrown things but it’s OK because there have been numerous allegations against this police force in the past. Seriously??? I had thought your efforts were misguided but now you have proven how blatantly stupid you are. The movie you are using here shows a masked protestor throwing an object at the police. Center of the screen 12 seconds in. If you are going to rally around a video than at least edit out the parts which show how full of shit you really are.
The protester runs up to something, picks it up, and throws it to the police half way underhanded. It appears he is returning some object to the police from where it came.
BROTHERS!
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COMMUNISM NOW!!!
We already have Communism to some degree. That is what is behind this overreaching and violence on the part of our government we are fighting against. I lived in the Soviet Union for a month. I remember exactly when I realized. On my second day looking into the toilet in a Saint Petersburg police station seeing the utter horror of it all. It is something I can’t really describe. It really is like being on another planet as a different person. I remember the smells and riding the Metro and drinking good champaign from southern Russia or wherever at $1.25 a bottle like it was beer in Dostoyevsky’s favorite park. Hiding it from the people waiting in line at the potato wagon. My ongoing battle with the doorman of The Grand Hotel Europskia or whatever its called as he tried to block me from the American Express office because of how I dress. Why don’t you talk to people who actually lived under communism? In Cuba they took a country that had better educated women than most of Europe and then solidified the revolution by raping and beating and mutilating and jailing women on a mass scale. How about a country where after one political demonstration you’ll be pissing blood and then addicted to cranberry juice for the rest of your life?
Don’t be silly. Communism gave us Hungary 1957, the Berlin Wall, Prague 1968, Romania 1989, Tianaman Square. It is the exact opposite of what this movement is about. It has never survived without suppressing the will of the people.
Communism is pure evil. I am talking from experience by the way.
Communism? If by this you mean Marxism, I suppose I’ll just throw out Bakunin’s relevant quote…
“Liberty without socialism is privilege, injustice; and that socialism without liberty is slavery, brutality.”
I won’t insult you or myself by suggesting that I thought you meant the policies of the corrupt Communist Party of the USSR…these have little to do with Communism, but they do point out a big hazard with Marx’s model, which is precisely why I tend toward Bakunin’s criticism of it.
And of course, if you simply were talking of the end result of a society balancing liberty with social good, and thus doing away with both scarcity and the state, then I throw my support in with yours, comrade.
But really…try to be a little more explanative when saying things like this. The press and the general public know not what to do with “We need communism now!” other than ridicule it.
I can’t believe this is happening in the United States. Do we have less rights than the Egyptians and the Syrians? Where else in the world do you see police using such tactics against peaceful protesters?
SHAME on Oakland police! SHAME!
The Syrians get shot down in cold blood, murdered in the streets, in fact. GL, you’re overreaching yourself here. What happened in Oakland is despicable but it’s hardly the wholesale slaughter of innocents. Think before you write next time.
Well, I’m not sure if you are getting the point.
We need to stage a walk from Occupy Boston to BPD Headcourters to show our support for Okland mannnn
I posted the following up above, but this one here is posted by another “anonymous-observer” – maybe Yo ?
“anonymous-observer on October 26th, 2011 at 9:36 pm #
CALL TO ACTION
Please sign petition “Stop The Police Repression Of Occupy Oakland” – they only have 20% of the 100,000 signatures they are seeking.
http://www.civic.moveon.org/oaklandpolice/?id=32339-20016589-J4H%3DbJx&t=3
If any organizers read this, maybe you can post on the home page?
”
I would not recommend marching over to the BPD. I do resent authorities abuse of power, and when the police actually RIOT against the people…amazing! Then the media covers Syria and Egypt, but why not what is happenning in our backyard even if it’s not on the same scale – IT IS MORE IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT IS HERE AT HOME, in the USA where it SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!!!
Someone needs to find out about cheap video cameras that film well at night. Collecting video footage should be pretty much the only purpose during these night raids. And we need openness and transparency with people allowed to freely roam the Boston camp taking pictures and video. We cannot allow Occupy Boston to get all thugged like what happened at Oakland. I suspect people working for the police were involved in creating the bad situation in the Oakland camp.
Cheap video cams that record well at night huh. I’ll give it a shot with my $100 Canon A1200 and let you guys know the result.