She also says she “support[s] the goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement”. She better; this is Oakland after all. It’s the 8th largest city in California, and the 2009 unemployment was 17%.

Here’s Think Progress with the news flash:

After the first heavy-handed police crackdown on demonstrators in Oakland, Mayor Jean Quan wrote a statement on her Facebook page praising police for closing down the Occupy Oakland protest encampment. Now, facing anger from across the world, Quan is backing down on her aggressive language and even says that she supports the goals of the movement. She is committing to minimize police presence in the plaza and “build a community effort to improve communications and dialogue with the demonstrators.”

From Mayor Quan’s statement:

We support the goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement: we have high levels of unemployment and we have high levels of foreclosure that makes Oakland part of the 99% too. We are a progressive city and tolerant of many opinions. We may not always agree, but we all have a right to be heard. I want to thank everyone for the peaceful demonstration at Frank Ogawa Park tonight, and thank the city employees who worked hard to clean up the plaza so that all activities can continue including Occupy Wall Street. We have decided to have a minimal police presence at the plaza for the short term and build a community effort to improve communications and dialogue with the demonstrators.

About the police, she adds (my emphasis):

99% of our officers stayed professional during difficult and dangerous circumstances as did some of the demonstrators who dissuaded other protestors from vandalizing downtown and for helping to keep the demonstrations peaceful. For the most part, demonstrations over the past two weeks have been peaceful.

Can you say “false equivalency”? Me too. And I’ll let you judge that “99%” number for yourself.

Added note — there’s a lot of good discussion in the comments on these Oakland posts about the role of police. My own comment: the role of police is to uphold the law, not selectively enforce it. The “code of silence” is perhaps the single most corrupting force in that profession.

When police police themselves with the same vigor as they do society’s undesirables (the social equivalent of the Safeway tabloid “who’s OK to hate” list), their stock and credibility will soar. One person’s opinion only, of course.

Here’s hoping this starts a new understanding. I’m going to watch Round Two in Oakland very carefully. (And I can’t wait for Limbaugh to comment on Iraq war vet Scott Olsen, now in a coma after reportedly being shot in the head by the Oakland police.)

GP