



While the Occupy Movement energy seems to have dissipated in many cities, Oakland is keeping it alive. Yesterday a demonstration turned nasty.

In the video below, the cops seem to be enjoying themselves as they point their guns in the direction of the protesters. As the rifle-toting bulls laugh themselves silly, I wonder if they really have any idea as to who they are protecting and from what? These images remind me of the People’s Park demonstrations of 1969. I see the same arrogance and ignorance in the faces of the cops I saw four decades ago. And the kids on the streets protesting are as idealistic and determined as the cops are clueless. The only difference this time around is the movement will not be stopped.

Oakland Local reports:

Occupy Oakland organizers envisioned this weekend as a “move-in day” which would allow them to rechristen the controversial movement by occupying a vacant building and turning it into a “social center.” Flyers distributed Saturday at a noontime rally at Frank Ogawa (aka Oscar Grant) Plaza announced an ambitious schedule of musical performances, arts & crafts, workshops on foreclosure defense, gender dynamics, and bike repair, forums, and a film festival.

The Oakland Police Department, however, had other plans. As a crowd estimated at around 1,000 people marched Eastward from the Plaza, toward Laney College, more than 50 police officers in riot gear began to trail them from the rear. One woman was arrested when she fell behind police lines, and officers pushed an elderly man to the ground, though he was not arrested.

As the crowd massed at Laney and crossed a wooden bridge, more officers converged from other sides, blocking exits to city streets. Several tense stand-offs ensued, although the tension was broken somewhat by the humorous sight of a man sitting in a chair telling the police he wanted to revise the chant from “F—-the police” to “F—- police brutality.”

The march continued on to East 10th, where more police were sighted, then up 12th Street, near Fallon, close to the location of the move-in target, the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. A ring of riot police, some wielding shotguns, others with batons, guarded the facility. After a protestor moved a fence, police deployed tear gas into the crowd, then declared unlawful assembly.

After several tense minutes, the marchers moved West on 12th, then South on Oak Street. Another showdown ensued in front of the Oakland Museum. A line of police stood at 10th Street, and marchers with homemade shields began to advance on them. Before they could get close, however, OPD let off a fusillade of CS canisters, flash-bang grenades, and beanbag pellets into the crowd. The wind blew most of the tear gas back into the police line, but the demonstration of firepower proved effective, and the crowd retreated.

A cat-and-mouse-game then ensured for the next hour, as police slowly pushed the marchers back to the Plaza. There were several arrests as police advanced, but very few instances of violence and few if any acts of aggression against police. Unlike other Occupy Oakland marches, there were no projectiles or liquids thrown at police. By 4 p.m., the march, still several hundred strong, had returned to Ogawa Plaza, awaiting further actions.

Earlier in the day, organizer Adam Jordan outlined the vision of what Occupy Oakland had hoped to accomplish. “The move-in day is hypothetically and hopefully going to be a multi-use center with free school workshops, free food, free meals, and a meeting place to have for Oakland, for the people, by the people. We see the need to help other people. Going through the system has not been working for a lot of people.”

Occupy Oakland’s positive aspects, Jordan said, were often not looked at “because of the rhetoric from City Hall.” The movement, he said, was here “to make it better for everybody.”`

Moreover, he said, the movement is worldwide. “If anyone has an Internet connection, they’ll realize they now have an Occupy Nigeria, an Occupy Taiwan, and Occupy London, an Occupy Netherlands.I met a guy from Occupy Edmonton…this is a world movement. You think it might go away here, it’ll come back like a weed, because it’s everywhere.”