UPDATE: This version includes new details throughout.

Palo Alto Police officers detonated tear gas cartriges Tuesday night during a tumultuous and violent clash with Occupy demonstrators, police confirmed. "We did fire CS gas, yes," said Palo Alto Police Officer Kara Apple. "It was at the direction of Oakland police, after officers at various different locations started taking on bottles and rocks."

In an exclusive interview with Palo Alto Patch, Palo Alto Police Chief Dennis Burns confirmed Wednesday that his office responded to a Mutual Aid Request by Oakland police by sending officers. The group included ten crowd-control specialist officers, two lieutenants, one dispatcher, and the center, or MEOC, which came with a driver and communications specialist.

Apple said that the tear gas used Tuesday night was a non-explosive variety. "They're not blast type devices," she said. "The gas burns internally and then comes out of the devices as a smoke. They are not designed to explode."

The clash between demonstrators and police in Oakland became a national story after 24-year-old Iraq veteran Scott Olsen was critically injured after reportedly being hit in the head by a tear gas canister.

The Marine Corps corporal was transported to Highland Hospital and remains in critical condition with head wounds and brain swelling.

Apple said that none of the devices used by Palo Alto police in Oakland seemed to have malfunctioned. Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said yesterday that tear gas was necessary to defend police from demonstrators.