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Occupy Oakland: Police fire tear gas, beanbags at demonstrators…

… and DESTROY their tent city.

Oakland police fired tear gas tonight at several hundred protestors after warning the crowd in Frank Ogawa Plaza that “chemical agents could be used, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. The protestors were attempting to retake their encampment outside Oakland City Hall that police had cleared more than 12 hours earlier.

City officials in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose had warned “Occupy” demonstrators that their tent cities cannot continue.

Police repeatedly warned protestors to disperse from the entrance to the Frank Ogawa Plaza before firing several tear gas canisters into the crowd at about 7:45 PM tonight, U.S. Pacific Time. The demonstrators scattered along Broadway in both directions as tear gas canisters and several “flash-bang” grenades went off. A wounded woman who had been hit by one of the canisters was carried off by two of the protestors.

Under cover of darkness, early this morning, hundreds of Oakland police swept into the Occupy Oakland encampment and fired tear gas and beanbag rounds before clearing out and dismantling the encampment. The two-week-old encampment was in ruins in less than an hour. Mats, tarps, backpacks, food wrappers, water bottles, overturned tents, pillows, and sleeping bags were scattered. The signs condemning corporations and police still hung on lamp posts or lay on the ground.

Authorities deny that flash-bang grenades were used.

I’m sure that they DID deny it. :-)

The Web site of the City of Oakland has posted a document entitled “Occupy Oakland Questions and Answers” (PDF), one called “Additional Details Regarding OPD’s Enforcement in Frank Ogawa Plaza and Snow Park” (PDF), one called “Information About Frank H. Ogawa Plaza Enforcement Activities,” and one called “Bulletins Distributed to Occupy Oakland Demonstators” <sic>, which leads to a page of links to the bulletins. Those with the patience to read all of these may learn a lot about how a city responds to”… the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of Grievances.

The “Additional Details…” document states that:

During the two enforcement operations, 79 arrests were made in the Frank Ogawa Plaza area and 6 arrests were made at Snow Park. <emphasis mine> Those arrested included individuals from as far away as Florida and Illinois.”

Actually, I am a little surprised that those arrested did not include people from FARTHER away, :-) given the multicultural composition of the Bay Area, and the fact that the Bay Area is an international destination for tourism. Just because someone comes from far away does NOT automatically earn them the title of “outside agitator.” My limited experience (I wish I could say that I have NO experience :-) ) with “police riots,”enforcement incursions, and even “cordoned-off areas” (the Ohio State University once held THAT title) tells me that things can become very confused under such conditions. My attempt to find the “Statement from Mayor Jean Quan about Today’s Enforcement Action” on THIS page led to the inability of two browsers to find the “oaklandnet” server.

Let’s get your links together, City of Oakland!

It will be very interesting to see how the national media follows up on these events in Oakland. I recall that during the Vietnam War protests that finally ended an unpopular war, things got (sadly) VERY violent with the killing of unarmed students at Kent State and Jackson State universities before American society backed away from the brink.

Let’s hope for and work toward a quicker and more peaceful resolution of the grievances raised by “Occupy” demonstrators worldwide.

-Bill at

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