Police arrest protesters, tear down Occupy Oakland tent city

Police arrest protesters, tear down Occupy Oakland tent city

Early Tuesday, the city began ousting protesters who have camped out for two weeks at the Occupy Oakland tent city on Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Police started assembling around the tent city at 14th Street and Broadway at about 3 a.m.

8:45 a.m. City officials survey the damage

City officials are conducting a walk-through of the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza aftermath to assess the condition of the plaza and the downtown area, according to a statement from the police department.

Officials plan to update advisory for downtown employers and city employees by 9 a.m . Earlier, they had urged employers to delay starting work downtown this morning.

Officials will be available for a
media briefing this morning at 9 a.m.

Current road closures downtown: Clay Street between 12th and 14th streets and Broadway between 12th and 14th streets

8:30 a.m. Protesters remain downtown

About two dozen protesters remain across the street from City Hall, where the camp has been dismantled. Tensions esalated considerably when one protester pushed through a barricade and was taken away by police.

About 50 police officers are in place to keep any protesters from reentering the plaza.

7:37 a.m Downtown Oakland BART station reopens

The Oakland City Center 12th street station is now open, according to BART. Currently only the 11th street
entrance/exit is open at this time.

7:15 a.m. Snow Park camp closed

Police have shut down the Snow Park encampment at 19th and Harrison streets near Lake Merritt.

Officers made numerous arrests, taking protestors away in vans, without any apparent violence.

Several protestors ran around into the nearby streets upending trash cans and dumpsters, throwing trash into the streets.

The camp is now basically empty, with a few people standing around and the remainders of several tents lying haphazardly in the grass.

6:40 a.m. BART closes downtown station

The 12th Street BART station is closed because of the protests and police action and AC Transit is re-routing buses downtown.

6:15 a.m. Police descend on Snow Park camp

Dozens of police officers are moving into Snow Park near Lake Merritt. An officer is using a bullhorn to tell protesters to leave the small park. Police are ripping down the tents and protesters are yelling "go away, go away."

"Attention protesters at Snow Park, this is the Oakland Police Department, you are in violation of the law. You must comply with this announcement. It has been determined that you are illegally lodging and are subject to arrest. To avoid arrest, you must gather all your belongings and vacate the park. You must comply with this announcement now." Protesters are yelling "police state, police state" and "rise up, rise up, against your masters." Police are forming a line to protect the people who have been arrested and put in police vehicles. Protesters claim they have the right to assemble and yell "shame, shame, shame, shame,"

5:30 a.m. Protesters cleared from plaza, tent city gone

On a side street off Broadway between 14th and 15th streets, a police line is keeping about 20 or 30 people out of the plaza as the protesters chant: "rise up, rise up, come on people rise up." Police said there were about 200 police from Oakland and other agencies involved in the raid. Police said a few protesters threw bottles at first, but then stopped.

A large group of police are mulling around the plaza. There are no more protesters in the plaza. All have been pushed out or left on their own. Three helicopters continue to circle above the scene. Clean up crews will be moving in soon and they have a lot off work ahead. The place is a complete mess with a couch is on its side and carpet and tents strewn everywhere.

5:20 a.m. City issues warning to downtown businesses

The city is advising employers to delay the arrival of employees downtown until further notice. Police have cleared the protesters from the Occupy Oakland camp at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza and are now starting the clean-up phase.

5:15 a.m. Tent city destroyed

Hundreds of police in riot gear continue to move into the camp and arrest people. Already dozens have been arrested and the camp destroyed. Most of the arrests seem relatively peaceful. Some have moved out on their own. There is massive amounts of destruction at the camp.

Police tore down tents and wooden stalls that had housed medical aid and food. Garbage cans are overturned. Some police have shotguns and all have clubs out. There is a small protest of about 50 people taking shape just off Broadway near 14th Street. People are banging drums and chanting "We are the 99 percent."

Media and TV crews everywhere. An officials with a bullhorn is issuing directive to campers. Police have now classified the area as a crime scene, but nothing violent has occurred. Looks like a hurricane has come through the camp. Entire raid was over in about 20 minutes. On the north end of the plaza, police have formed a line and are pushing about two dozen protesters into the street. Chaotic as the protesters yell at police. One protesters said "Police are the biggest gang in America."

5 a.m. Police move in

Police have donned gas masks and some kind of smoke has been released. There is a ring of police surrounding the plaza. In addition, police have blocked off the intersection of 14th and Broadway.

Police are dismantling the barricades and throwing them into the streets and also tearing down signs, ripping them up.

Protesters are sitting down, and police are now leading them away, handcuffed. Police in masks are moving into the camps.

4:50 a.m. Police surround camp

Police are now moving in from the street into the plaza, telling media to move. Police have set up security corridor, placing media behind them. Police are telling the protesters via bullhorn that "chemical agents" will be used and are repeating that they are illegally camped.

Using a bullhorn, police are announcing their intention to remove anyone from the plaza, repeating instructions over and over again. Taking out billy clubs, they are starting to move in. So far, police have not entered the actual encampment. A lot of television truck are parked nearby and media are assembling as well.

4:40 a.m. Police arrive

Several police cars have arrived. The protesters are running around, throwing things at the police. Riot police with batons full riot gear have assembled on the corner of 14th and Broadway.

Police are lined up from 14th to 15th, at least 100 riot police. Protesters are chanting "Police go home, cops go home " and banging sticks on anything they can find.

A helicopter is hovering over the plaza, shining a spotlight down on the camp.

Homeless people are leaving the camp, trying to get out.

Activists with Occupy Oakland report that police appear to be moving in early Tuesday morning near the encampment on the lawn outside of Oakland City Hall.

Police have been seen walking the perimeter of the camp, but have not gone in as of 3:30 a.m., according to the group, which has occupied a tent city for two weeks.

At the side of the camp near 14th Street and Broadway, people have put up at least two metal Dumpsters to block the area and wooden crates have been placed near the Clay Street side of the camp in an attempt to keep police out. In addition, people are covering their faces with bandannas and one made is carrying a giant shield he fashioned out of duct tape.

At about 3 a.m., the Occupy Oakland camp leaders sent out a text message, citing "heavy" police presence and then sent out another alert to supporters: "Get here immediately. Lines of riot cops marking toward camp."

More than 300 people have been camping in Oakland to support the Occupy Wall Street movement, which started on Sept. 17 in New York City to protest widespread unemployment and corporate greed.

The loose-knit group occupied the plaza two weeks ago to protest widespread unemployment and corporate greed, but the encampment has grown to encompass many other causes: support for state prison inmates who are on hunger strikes, housing rights, fair wages and against social oppression.

City officials began stepping up pressure on the protesters last week and on Friday upped the stakes by issuing a letter stating that the encampment on Frank H. Ogawa Plaza was "a violation of the law" and threatening violators with immediate arrest.

The "notice of violations and demand to cease violations" came a day after a preliminary letter that urged the residents to vacate the camp because of what the city said were a host of problems, including fighting, vandalism, public urination and other sanitation and public health issues. Officials said an existing rat problem in the area was being made worse by the encampment, which had about 100 tents at one point.

A spokeswoman for the mayor, Karen Boyd, said Friday that the protesters had shown themselves incapable of self-governance. "As a collective, they cannot maintain the plaza in a safe condition," she said.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_19188125


Jail the punks, clean up the junk, fumigate the progressive funk.

It's time.....to clean up American, one Leftist tent city at a time.

 

Police in Riot Gear Clear Anti-Wall Street Protesters in California City

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/2...alifornia-city/?test=latestnews#ixzz1bpA5mGiy



OAKLAND, Calif. – Police in riot gear cleared anti-Wall Street protesters on Tuesday from the front of Oakland's City Hall where they had been camping for two weeks, leaving a sea of overturned tents, signs and trash strewn across the plaza.

Authorities arrested 75 people, mostly on suspicion of misdemeanor illegal lodging, and hundreds of officers and sheriff's deputies from more than a dozen agencies went into the encampment with tear gas and beanbag rounds about 5 a.m., police said.
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About 170 protesters were at the site, but no one was injured, according to police.

Television news footage showed protesters being taken away in plastic handcuffs without incident, though some protesters complained of rough handling by police.

Officers fired tear gas and bean bags when one group of protesters pelted them with rocks and bottles near the camp's kitchen area, Jordan said.

"It was definitely chaos. People didn't want to get gassed," said protester Anthony Owens, 40, a computer programmer from Oakland who was at the scene when police moved in but was not arrested.

The Oakland site was among numerous camps that have sprung up around the country, as protesters rally against what they call corporate greed and a range of other economic issues. The protests have attracted a wide range of people, including college students looking for work and the homeless population.

Some people in the camp left as word spread about possible police action, Owens said. Many of the remaining protesters locked arms and shouted as officers surrounded the plaza and moved in.

Witnesses reported seeing smoke rising from the area. City officials deemed the plaza "contained" within half an hour, although tents and trash remained strewn there. A smaller encampment at a park near the plaza was also cleared Tuesday morning.

Police maintained a heavy presence around downtown Oakland into the morning. Streets were closed off by police barricades, and at least two helicopters hovered above. Riot gear-clad officers were seen facing off with shouting protesters, who briefly blocked traffic on a busy thoroughfare.

City officials advised downtown businesses to delay opening and city employees to come in late. Officials had been supportive of the protesters, with Oakland mayor Jean Quan saying that sometimes "democracy is messy." But the city later warned the protesters that they were breaking the law and could not stay in the encampment overnight.

Officials cited concerns about rats, fire hazards, public urination and acts of violence at the site, which had grown to more than 150 tents and included health, child-care and kitchen areas. There were reports of a sex assault and a severe beating, and fire crews and paramedics were denied access to the camp, according to city officials who said they also received complaints of intimidating and threatening behavior.

Protesters disputed the city's claims about conditions at the camp. They said the protest was dominated by a spirit of cooperation that helped keep the site clean and allowed disputes to be resolved peacefully.

Many protesters said the raid only served to strengthen their resolve that the protests would continue. A flyer handed out along the police barricades at the edge of the plaza asked the demonstrators to reconvene at the city's public library later in the day.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/2...alifornia-city/?test=latestnews#ixzz1bpAAzoai

 

What we need is an army of Travis Bickle's to do a sweep en masse. Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum and filth off the streets.

 

PLEASE tell me there is video of this.

 

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eUGCVVNOnA"]Police raid Occupy Oakland, Oct 25, 5am - YouTube[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96RNERoraLc"]Dozens Arrested at Occupy Oakland as Police Raid Encampment, Tear Down Tents - YouTube[/ame]


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BEAUTIFUL!!

Its a shame I can't rep you again right now

 

It's all good!

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Travis can start with Travis.

Nothing will stop the movement. Enjoy watching your dumpy dreams fade away cons.

 

If need be, people like me will indeed stop it. Nothing more lame than filthy lazy scum trying to fight against people who know what they are doing.

2012 is the end of a hundred years of toilet drinking retards driving the US into the sty of progressivism. 2010 was just a taste. Adios scumbags.

 

Amen!!

2012 will be crucial to rolling back 50 years of failed socialist policy.


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We would need a supermajorty to do it however.

 

To use the nuclear option?

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Without it liberals will simply filibuster.

It really doesn't matter unless we can get those 60 seats.

Well 61. No one can trust McCain

But the biggest prize is by far the presidency because someone from the Supreme Court will retire. Hopefully Kennedy and we can finally put some sanity into a majority supreme court.

If we don't get it then this country as we know it wont exist.

 

Yeah (*)(*)(*)(*) those people expressing opinions I don't agree with. Send them all to jail. Go freedom!

It's funny because I used to hate the left more than the right but nowadays I hate the right way more than I ever hated the left. At least the left is trying to be helpful to everyone and is completely honest about screwing people over. The right tries to pretend they love freedom while actually being theo-fascist hypocrites who hate everyone who isn't one of them and enjoy seeing violence used against them. It's disgusting.

 

The protestors are on private property?

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So you're saying you shouldn't be able to protest on public property? Go freedom, right?

 

You can't seize and hold public property.

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I didn't realize protesting = seize and hold. So how long are your fellow citizens allowed to protest until they have lost their rights? At what point in time do your fellow citizens rights no longer apply to them? Why?

 

I am just curious, the language used in this thread is hate filled, plain and simple. Yet, these same posters accuse the other side of the political spectrum of the act there have engaged.

What problem are you solving here.

 

That will certainly cut down on the number of rapes and robberies in the city.

 

Pfffft...what Movement exactly?

The minute I saw Michael Moore, and Kanye West...both Millionaires...I knew the jig was up.

Nothing legitimate here. Just a bunch of whiny brats and Liberals out to try and be owed something they didn't earn...and backed up by Liberal millionaires who for some reason claim to support whatever this was...but interestingly enough havent donated their wealth to the IRS.

 

Tommy Lee Jones said it best:

Yes, of course! Hence the name: movement. It moves a certain distance, then it stops, you see? A revolution gets its name by always coming back around in your face.

 

Bummer! Now these Occupy Oakland guys will have to go out and start looking for a job again.

 

"Nothing legitimate here. Just a bunch of whiny brats and Liberals out to try and be owed something they didn't earn...and backed up by Liberal millionaires who for some reason claim to support whatever this was...but interestingly enough havent donated their wealth to the IRS." RichT2705

Real Americans put their money where their mouth is and don't try to influence public policy to pay for their interests.

 

They aren't just protesting, and you bloody well know it. I'm not playing that BS game.

They haven't lost their right to protest, but they don't have a right to take over public parks,ect.