In a raid this morning, the city of Oakland used riot gear-clad police to evict the Occupy Oakland tent city. “It feels pretty sad because we built a community here, and now they can just come and destroy it,” said Lisa Bitar, one of the protesters.
Outraged by the action taken against Occupy Oakland, Dan Siegel, who had been serving as mayor Jean Quan’s legal advisor, decided to resign today. On Twitter, he wrote that he was resigning to support Occupy Oakland and oppose the 1 percent:
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Riot-clad law enforcement officers cleared out Oakland's weeks-old anti-Wall Street encampment just before dawn Monday, arresting Occupy demonstrators and removing tents from a downtown plaza after issuing several warnings over the weekend.
A line of police stand staged at an Occupy Oakland encampment in Oakland, Calif., early Monday, Nov. 14, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Protesters appeared to put up little resistance and officers could be seen calmly leading some demonstrators away in plastic handcuffs. Warnings from authorities had been similar to those issued before officers used tear gas and bean bag projectiles to clear the encampment on Oct. 25.
Police made more than 20 arrests during Monday's raid, Mayor Jean Quan said.
After officers blocked off the streets surrounding Frank Ogawa Plaza, some demonstrators gathered near the barricades and vowed to return.
"I don't see how they're going to disperse us," 30-year-old Ohad Meyer said. "There are thousands of people who are going to come back."
The action came a day after police drove hundreds of anti-Wall Street demonstrators from weeks-old encampments in Portland, arresting more than 50 people.
Oakland officials stepped up calls for an end to their city's encampment after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the plaza. Police issued a fourth cease and desist order Sunday night telling demonstrators they couldn't camp there.
Quan had allowed protesters to reclaim the disbanded site after facing criticism following the Oct. 25 raid. The camp grew substantially afterward, although city officials said on Sunday the number of tents has dropped by about 30 to 150 since Nov. 8.
"We really tried to make this a safe and peaceful day," Quan told The Associated Press after the tents were taken down Monday. "Even though there are those who disagree with my decision, we hope it is peaceful. We need them to honor and respect our city and keep it safe."
Protesters would be allowed to return to the plaza after the tents were cleared out, but they wouldn't be allowed to spend the night, the mayor said.
"We've been consistent that they can use it as a free speech location," she said. "They can gather tonight, but no camping is allowed."
On Sunday, friends confirmed that an Iraq War veteran who was injured in the Oct. 25 raid, Scott Olsen, has been released from the hospital. Olsen, who suffered a skull fracture, became a rallying point for protesters nationwide.
Dottie Guy of Iraq Veterans Against the War said Sunday Olsen was released last week. He can now read and write, but still has trouble talking, she added.
Officials across the country have been urging an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two deaths by gunfire.
Demands for Oakland protesters to pack up increased after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the encampment site.
Protesters had said that there was no connection between the shooting and the camp. But police Sunday night identified the slain man as 25-year-old Kayode Ola Foster of Oakland, saying his family confirmed he had been staying at the plaza.
Police officer Johnna Watson said witnesses have told police that one of two suspects in the shooting had also been a frequent resident at the plaza. The suspects' names haven't been released.
Investigators suspect that the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men.
In the hours after the midnight Saturday eviction deadline in Portland, the anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters had flooded the park area. At one point, the crowd swelled to thousands. As dawn arrived, riot police had retreated and most of the crowds had gone home, but protesters who have been at the two parks since Oct. 6 were still there, prompting one organizer to declare the night a victory for the movement.
"We stood up to state power," Jim Oliver told The Associated Press.
It didn't last. Police moved in later. An officer on a loudspeaker warned that anyone who resisted risked arrest and "may also be subject to chemical agents and impact weapons." Demonstrators chanted "we are a peaceful protest."
"We were talking about what we were going to do and then they just started hitting people. Seems like a waste of resources to me," protester Mike Swain, 27, told the AP.
One man was taken away on a stretcher; he was alert and talking to paramedics, and raised a peace sign to fellow protesters, who responded with cheers.
City officials erected temporary chain-link fences with barbed wire at the top around three adjacent downtown parks, choking off access for demonstrators as parks officials cleaned up.
Portland Mayor Sam Adams Sunday defended his order to clear the park, saying it is his job to enforce the law and keep the peace. "This is not a game," Adams said.
Officials said that one officer suffered minor injuries. Police had prepared for a possible clash, warning that dozens of anarchists may be planning a confrontation with authorities.
In other cities over the weekend:
— In Salt Lake City, police arrested 19 people Saturday when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a man as found dead inside his tent at the encampment.
— In Albany, N.Y., police arrested 24 Occupy Albany protesters after they defied an 11 p.m. curfew in a state-owned park.
— In Denver, authorities arrested four people as they forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment.
— In San Francisco, police said two demonstrators attacked two police officers in separate incidents during a march, leaving them with minor injuries. The assailants couldn't be located.
OAKLAND, Calif. — City leaders across the U.S. felt increasing pressure Friday to shut down Occupy protest encampments after two men died in shootings and two others were found dead inside their tents this week.
One was found dead Friday inside a tent at the Occupy Salt Lake City encampment, from what police said was a combination of drug use and carbon monoxide from a propane heater.
On Thursday, a man was shot and killed at the Occupy Oakland camp in California, and a military veteran apparently shot himself to death in a tent at an encampment in Burlington, Vermont.
The deaths come after a 53-year-old man was found dead inside a tent at the Occupy New Orleans encampment on Tuesday. The Times-Picayune newspaper reported that he appeared to have been dead for two days.
Some officials have responded with both pleas and orders for protesters to leave.
Citing a strain on crime-fighting resources, police asked Occupy Oakland protesters to leave their encampment at the City Hall plaza where the man was shot and killed late Thursday.
The Oakland Police Officer's Association issued an open letter saying the camp is pulling officers away from crime-plagued neighborhoods.
"With last night's homicide, in broad daylight, in the middle of rush hour, Frank Ogawa Plaza is no longer safe," the letter said. "Please leave peacefully, with your heads held high, so we can get police officers back to work fighting crime in Oakland neighborhoods."
On Friday night, police said, one man sought in connection with the Oakland shooting was a frequent resident of the Occupy Oakland encampment.
Oakland police also handed out eviction notices, but angry campers tore them all up, according to a report in the Oakland Tribune.
Since the shooting, anonymous fliers have been posted around the encampment urging protesters to leave.
"Occupiers, turn on your brains and see the harm you are causing to our town," it says. "You have devolved into mob rule. You have lost sight of the goal."
City Council President Larry Reid said outside City Hall that the shooting was further proof the tents must come down. He was confronted by a protester who said he wouldn't be in office much longer.
"You didn't elect me," Reid snapped back. "You probably ain't even registered to vote!"
Reid said the encampment has been a major setback for the area while attracting sex offenders, mentally ill and homeless people, and anarchists.
"This is no longer about Occupy Wall Street," he said. "This is about occupying Oakland and extracting whatever you can get out of Oakland by holding our city hostage."
The Oakland shooting occurred the same day the 35-year-old military veteran apparently fatally shot himself in the head in a tent at the Vermont encampment.
The shooting raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue, said Burlington police Deputy Chief Andi Higbee.
"Our responsibility is to keep the public safe. When there is a discharge of a firearm in a public place like this, it's good cause to be concerned, greatly concerned," Higbee said.
In the Salt Lake City protest camp, the discovery of the dead man, believed to be in his 40s, led police to order all protesters to leave the park where they have camped for weeks.
Group organizers said many of the roughly 150 protesters plan to go to jail rather than leave.
"We don't even know if this is a tragedy or just natural," protest organizer Jesse Fruhwirth said. "They're scapegoating Occupy."
Tensions were also high at the 300-tent encampment in Portland, Oregon, which has become a hub for the city's homeless people and addicts.
Mayor Sam Adams ordered the camp shut down by midnight Saturday, pointing to two non-fatal drug overdoses at the camp.
"I cannot wait for someone to die," he said. "I cannot wait for someone to use the camp as camouflage to inflict bodily harm on others."
Many at the camp said they would resist any effort to remove them.
"There will be a variety of tactics used," said organizer Adriane DeJerk, 26. "No social movement has ever been successful while being completely peaceful."
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A protest that shut down the Port of Oakland to show the broadening reach of the Occupy Wall Street movement ended in violence when police in riot gear arrested dozens of protesters overnight who broke into a vacant building, shattered downtown windows, sprayed graffiti and set blazes along the way.
An anarchy symbol is painted the entrance to an office building at 1333 Broadway in Oakland, Calif., following an Occupy Oakland protest early Thursday morning, Nov. 3, 2011. After a mainly peaceful day-long rally by thousands of anti-Wall Street demonstrators, several hundred reconvened during the night with a few painting graffiti, breaking windows and setting fire to garbage cans. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
At least four protesters were hospitalized Thursday with various injuries, including one needing stitches after fighting with an officer, police said. Several officers were also injured but didn't need hospitalization.
"We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos," protester Monique Agnew, 40, said early Thursday.
Protesters also threw concrete chunks, metal pipes, lit roman candles and molotov cocktails, police said.
The far-flung movement of protesters challenging the world's economic systems and distribution of wealth has gained momentum in recent weeks, capturing the world's attention by shutting down one of the nation's busiest shipping ports toward the end of a daylong "general strike" that prompted solidarity rallies across the U.S.
Several thousands of people converged on the Port of Oakland, the nation's fifth-busiest harbor, in a nearly five-hour protest Wednesday, swarming the area and blocking exits and streets with illegally parked vehicles and hastily erected, chain-link fences afterward.
Port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said evening operations had been "effectively shut down."
Port officials hoped to resume maritime operations Thursday "and that Port workers will be allowed to get to their jobs without incident. Continued missed shifts represent economic hardship for maritime workers, truckers, and their families, as well as lost jobs and lost tax revenue for our region."
Big trucks were backed up Thursday morning as footage on KGO-TV showed about a dozen protesters manning a chain link fence blocking a port entrance. Truck drivers argued with protesters, who said they planned to stay until at least 9 a.m.
Port officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the status of operations at the port.
Supporters in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and elsewhere staged smaller-scale demonstrations. Each group said its protest was a show of support for the Oakland movement, which became a rallying point when an Iraq War veteran was seriously injured in a clash with police last week.
The larger Occupy movement has yet to coalesce into an organized association and until the port shut down had largely been limited scattershot marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.
Organizers in Oakland viewed the strike and port shutdown as a significant victory. Police said that about 7,000 people participated in demonstrations throughout the day that were peaceful except for a few incidents of vandalism at local banks and businesses.
Boots Riley, a protest organizer, touted the day as a success, saying "we put together an ideological principle that the mainstream media wouldn't talk about two months ago."
His comments came before a group of protesters broke into the former Travelers Aid building in order to, as some shouting protesters put it, "reclaim the building for the people."
Riley, whose anti-capitalist views are well documented, considered the port shutdown particularly significant for organizers who targeted it in an effort to stop the "flow of capital."
The port sends goods primarily to Asia, including wine as well as rice, fruits and nuts, and handles imported electronics, apparel and manufacturing equipment, mostly from Asia, as well as cars and parts from Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai.
An accounting of the financial toll from the shutdown was not immediately available.
The potential for the chaos that ultimately erupted was not something Riley wanted to even consider.
"If they do that after all this ..." said Riley pausing cautiously, then adding, "They're smarter than that."
But the peace that abided throughout a sunny warm autumn Wednesday, as protesters hung a large black banner downtown that read: "DEATH TO CAPITALISM," did not last as a cool midnight approached.
Occupy protesters voicing anger over a budget trim that forced the closure of a homeless aid program converged on the empty building where it had been housed just outside of downtown.
They blocked off a street with wood, metal Dumpsters and other large trash bins, sparking bonfires that leapt as high as 15 feet in the air.
City officials later released a statement describing the spasm of unrest.
"Oakland Police responded to a late night call that protesters had broken into and occupied a downtown building and set several simultaneous fires," the statement read. "The protesters began hurling rocks, explosives, bottles, and flaming objects at responding officers."
Several businesses were heavily vandalized. Dozens of protesters wielding shields were surrounded and arrested.
Protesters ran from several rounds of tear gas and bright flashes and deafening pops that some thought were caused by "flash bang" grenades. Fire crews arrived and suppressed the protesters' flames.
Protesters and police faced off in an uneasy standoff until the wee hours of the morning.
In Philadelphia, protesters were arrested earlier Wednesday as they held a sit-in at the headquarters of cable giant Comcast.
In New York, about 100 military veterans marched in uniform and stopped in front of the New York Stock Exchange, standing in loose formation as police officers on scooters separated them from the entrance. On the other side was a lineup of NYPD horses carrying officers with nightsticks.
"We are marching to express support for our brother, (Iraq war veteran) Scott Olsen, who was injured in Oakland," said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009.
The veterans were also angry that returned from war to find few job prospects.
"Wall Street corporations have played a big role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Bordeleau, now a college student. He said private contractors have reaped big profits in those countries.
A New York Post editorial on Thursday called on protesters camped out in Manhattan to leave or have police evict them. "What began as a credible protest against bank bailouts, crony capitalism and the like has, in large measure, been hijacked by crazies and criminals," it said.
In Boston, college students and union workers marched on Bank of America offices, the Harvard Club and the Statehouse to protest the nation's burgeoning student debt crisis. They said total outstanding student loans exceed credit card debt, increase by $1 million every six minutes and will reach $1 trillion this year, potentially undermining the economy.
"There are so many students that are trying to get jobs and go on with their lives," said Sarvenaz Asasy, of Boston, who joined the march after recently graduating with a master's degree and $60,000 in loan debt. "They've educated themselves and there are no jobs and we're paying tons of student loans. For what?"
And among the other protests in Oakland, parents and their kids, some in strollers, joined in by forming a "children's brigade."
"There's absolutely something wrong with the system," said Jessica Medina, a single mother who attends school part time and works at an Oakland cafe. "We need to change that."
