Occupy Oakland Protests 2011

I am not anti police. I'm pretty pro police. When the riots after the Oscar grant trial happened I was on their side. I think it started out as a peaceful demonstration then as the night went on people lost sight of that and started destroying property and looting. I think in instances like that police do have a right and a duty to respond with force to get rid of the crowd and protect the people who live and work in the city.  Of course this view is framed in the context of how I grew up. I went to a private school and while I didn't grow up wealthy my family has money. I've never been arrested. I don't fear police. I'm also white which makes a huge difference. My interactions with police have all been positive. I've never felt threatened by them and I don't know anyone who has ever been a victim of police brutality.

I'm not 100% behind the Occupy Movement. I went to the march in Oakland on Saturday because I think banks need to be better regulated in this country, that people who broke the law should be punished, they government is too close to wall st and that the Bush tax cuts need to be repealed. Other people are at occupy for those reasons, some are there for other reasons and some don't know why they are there, they just feel that there is something wrong with the system. I think what the movement has done so far is great. It was a genuine grass roots expression of dissatisfaction and angry. It tapped into the same feeling as the tea party but unlike tea partiers it is not backed by billionaires.

I think it is now time to create a list of demands. I understand the argument that demands isn't what the movement is about, that it's strength is in it's diversity of message, that demands will alienate people etc etc but I think that's  bollocks. If we want actual change we need to give people in power something to work with. The lack of demands, the lack of cohesion is no longer an asset it has become an excuse for politicians and the media to ignore the people. 

I was at the plaza on Saturday it was not smelly or dirty I saw no rats. I also did not see a concerted effort to make a visible show of cleaning.  I think the city may have had some legitimate concerns about cleanliness that could have been better dealt with by the protesters, after all Occupy Wall St managed to keep clean up crews from Zuccotti Park by making it absolutely obvious they were cleaning. Keeping in mind however that the plaza is usually full of homeless people who have never been raided by riot police.

What the City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department did to clear the camp was a major overreaction. Around 600 police stormed the camp at around 5am. They claim they tried to enter peacefully and ask people to leave and were hit with objects thrown at them. The media have reported this as fact when the police provided no evidence to back up this claim. Multiple reports, videos and pictures show the police to be lying. There is video of police knocking over rubbish bins and throwing garbage onto the plaza. People have provided statements of people being beaten and refused medical aid. 75 people were arrested, many for loitering or remaining at the location of a riot.

Last night a large group of people, between 500 and over 1000 met at the library with the goal or retaking the plaza. The media either ignored it or used loaded terms like that protesters had "clashed" with police and that there was a "stand off" these terms assume a certain level of equality that there was not. I was not there last night I revived my news from twitter as well as local news websites. I did not rely on people just in my feed, instead using the search term #occupyoakland. I didn't want to just see what people I liked were saying since they may have been biased.
By all accounts protesters were relatively peaceful. Reporters on the ground kept saying this, you could tell they were kind of disappointed though.

There was a report of one car on fire, and one smashed police car. There was also a report of a protester trying to kick a police car and being held back by other people in the crowd. I saw pictures of one or two officers with paint on them, presumably thrown by protesters. There were also reports of other items being thrown. On my twitter feed there were widespread reports of fellow protesters chanting "don't throw shit" every time some one did throw something.
Things I saw on my twitter feed but not on the media were a US navy vet in uniform standing at the front of the barricade holding a copy of the constitution (presumably open to the 1st amendment). Police claim no injuries although there are pictures of people with wounds from rubber bullets and bean bags 1, 2. The OPD claim they did not use rubber bullets or bean bags (here are some pictures of some fired at protesters) they are "investigating" if other police did (why did they not tell the reinforcements they called in not to bring the bullets?)
US Marine vet Scott Olsen was shot in the head by some sort of projectile, here is a statement from Veterans for Peace, Here is a video of people attempting to help him and having flash bang grenades thrown at them (for the record the OPD claims they did not use them, that they were fireworks thrown by protesters)*. There are pictures of a woman in a wheelchair being helped out of a cloud of tear gas after her battery died. Here is a video of tear gas being thrown as well as what appear to be flash bang grenades (the ones the police didn't throw) appearing to come from behind the barricade. You can also see protesters throwing tear gas canisters back at the lines.

Keep in mind this was no a riot. There was no looting. This was a police response to health and fire code violations.  Agree or disagree with the protesters there is a right to peaceful assembly in this country.  Can you really be comfortable with police tear gassing people for protesting?  The specific issue they are protesting is not the issue, if the police get away with responding like this to this group what stops them from responding like that to an issue you care about?

As I write this, Frank Ogawa Plaza (which the protesters renamed Oscar Grand Plaza) is open again, the grass had been fenced off but the group pulled down the fence. There appear to be no or few police. Although apparently they are only allowed to remain there until 10pm. We will see what happens. The best course of action for the police is probably to just let them stay, there are apparently several thousand people there.




*When I first wrote this the story had not fully broken, now it appears to have exploded, there is a lot more information about this man I'd encourage you to read The Daily Kos or http://oaklandnorth.net/ for updates. It looks like he's going to be ok but this appears to be turning into a big story.