Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, October 25, 2011
Occupy The Oakland Police Department Is Tear-Gassing Occupy Oakland
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 10:49 PM
Find photos of the gassing right here.(Bonus points: The cops gassed a woman in a wheelchair.) Right here are photos of rubber bullet (or maybe bean bag or empty tear gas canister) injuries (this photo is way grosser). Here's video of the police tossing flash grenades and tear gas at the crowds. Wonkette points out that President Obama is right across the bay at a fundraiser with very wealthy tech people right now.
The best source for information about what's going on at Occupy Oakland is Twitter.
UPDATE: And if you can't stand Twitter, Mother Jones is live-blogging the whole thing, although most of their information comes from Twitter. CNN is not covering this news because they are busy waiting for your questions for Ray Liotta.
UPDATE: And there's live footage off and on right here.
FINAL UPDATE: At least ten protesters are reportedly being treated for injuries at a local hospital. The remaining protesters are treating the police to a slow clap and an a cappella version of The Imperial March from Star Wars. CNN still has no sign of Occupy Oakland coverage, although they do have a lot to say on their front page about McRibs, a woman who went on a diet to become a Miss America contender, and an interview with CNN reporter Nancy Grace about how tough it was for her to go on Dancing with the Stars. They should be proud of themselves for a job well done tonight.
1
everyone please be careful.Praying for you from Seattle.Will spread this horrible news, so that everyone will know.
2
And so they tear Gas the elderly and the infirm. Other "democracies" do the same thing to "trouble makers". Look at Syria for example. The government sees a threat, the government takes action. What don't you understand about that? And YOU thought those survivalists/loonies in the hills talking about bad government were nuts. Is it too late to concede they may have a point?
4
I wonder what prompted the crackdown. The various city governments have always had the means and the legal authority to end any of the Occupy protests. Until now they have chosen not to.
5
Ken, the Chronicle and Examiner are covering it too, in case you want to go beyond Paul's suggestions of Twitter or CNN. There is some background reporting on today's events leading up to this. Interesting quotes too, most of which one hopes no Occupy Seattle supporter will ever have to say.
Some protesters who avoided conflict and wanted to show their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement were displeased by the violent turns. "They didn't have to force police into that situation," said Helen Walker, 46, a nurse from Albany. "It was totally provoked, and if I could have, I would have stopped those idiots from throwing paint."http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg…
6
@ Ken: here's the city's official party line as to why they had to crack down:
"There were a series of safety conditions, including numerous reports of fighting, assault and threatening/intimidating behavior. Medical responders (AMR Ambulance Company) were denied access on at least two occasions to provide medical care. Furthermore, the Oakland Fire Department and Police Department
were denied access to the Plaza to respond to calls for service. Sanitation conditions worsened with frequent instances of public urination and defecation, as well as improper food storage. The existing rodent problem on the Plaza was exacerbated and vector control was unable to implement measures to control the rat problem due to the presence of overnight campers..."
Which is valid, to some degree — the camp was fairly squalid, there was a rat problem, etc. — but the consensus down here seems to be that Mayor Quan and the OPD mishandled the situation, especially when it came to teargas and beanbag guns. Right now, there are a lot of questions and not many answers out here.
"There were a series of safety conditions, including numerous reports of fighting, assault and threatening/intimidating behavior. Medical responders (AMR Ambulance Company) were denied access on at least two occasions to provide medical care. Furthermore, the Oakland Fire Department and Police Department
were denied access to the Plaza to respond to calls for service. Sanitation conditions worsened with frequent instances of public urination and defecation, as well as improper food storage. The existing rodent problem on the Plaza was exacerbated and vector control was unable to implement measures to control the rat problem due to the presence of overnight campers..."
Which is valid, to some degree — the camp was fairly squalid, there was a rat problem, etc. — but the consensus down here seems to be that Mayor Quan and the OPD mishandled the situation, especially when it came to teargas and beanbag guns. Right now, there are a lot of questions and not many answers out here.
7
Sloggers: CNN offers some advice on thier website about reporting breaking news,
"Do you have information about a breaking news event and want to call it in? Please contact 404.827.1500 and select option 1, or text CNN (space) and your news tip to 772937 (don’t forget the space after CNN). Include your cell phone number if you’d like a call back"
Maybe a few texts and calls might help to get thier attention?
This also needs to be called in, tweeted, e-mailed, etc., to BBC News, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, etc. It needs to be on the freaking morning talk shows everywhere, I'd like to see the police chief interviewed on camera and try to explain this. I'd like the lady in the wheelchair tell everyone what tear gas feels like. If the police in Oakland get by with this, how long before these tactics are used on other Occupy protests?
"Do you have information about a breaking news event and want to call it in? Please contact 404.827.1500 and select option 1, or text CNN (space) and your news tip to 772937 (don’t forget the space after CNN). Include your cell phone number if you’d like a call back"
Maybe a few texts and calls might help to get thier attention?
This also needs to be called in, tweeted, e-mailed, etc., to BBC News, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, etc. It needs to be on the freaking morning talk shows everywhere, I'd like to see the police chief interviewed on camera and try to explain this. I'd like the lady in the wheelchair tell everyone what tear gas feels like. If the police in Oakland get by with this, how long before these tactics are used on other Occupy protests?
8
As a follow-up to my previous post, here's how to call MSNBC according to eHow:
"Dial
(212) 664-4444
to speak to someone at MSNBC news if you have important information and can't wait for a response to an email or letter."
"Dial
(212) 664-4444
to speak to someone at MSNBC news if you have important information and can't wait for a response to an email or letter."
9
At least The New York Times has begun covering the story, it's currently on thier front page under thier Lede Blog:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10…
I'll stop now, but seriously, consider calling or texting CNN and MSNBC till we see some coverage.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10…
I'll stop now, but seriously, consider calling or texting CNN and MSNBC till we see some coverage.
10
I love the way there's not even the pretense of being objective here. Biased, yellow journalism at its finest.
Yes, please do read the stories that are now up all over the internet (including CNN). You'll find that there's a little more to this story than Paul would like you to believe.
Yes, please do read the stories that are now up all over the internet (including CNN). You'll find that there's a little more to this story than Paul would like you to believe.
11
Is it just me or has the overall quality of The Stranger's journalism hit the level of The Seattle Times or even worse over the past year or two?
14
Get fucking real & quit making shit up.
That is NOT a photo of police teargassing a woman in a wheechair. That is a photo of a woman in a wheelchair with a rather thin disbursement of tear gas BEHIND her. There aren't even any cops in that photo!
The way you and "Mother Jones" (such an unbiased objective source LOL) write it, you make it seem as if the cops are right there actively spraying a wheelchair-bound woman in the face, and that's just NOT TRUE.
That is NOT a photo of police teargassing a woman in a wheechair. That is a photo of a woman in a wheelchair with a rather thin disbursement of tear gas BEHIND her. There aren't even any cops in that photo!
The way you and "Mother Jones" (such an unbiased objective source LOL) write it, you make it seem as if the cops are right there actively spraying a wheelchair-bound woman in the face, and that's just NOT TRUE.
16
@15
They are not telling the truth, they are making up blatant lies, like "police teargas woman in a wheelchair".
They are not telling the truth, they are making up blatant lies, like "police teargas woman in a wheelchair".
18
"Police Department were denied access to the Plaza to respond to calls for service. Sanitation conditions worsened with frequent instances of public urination and defecation, as well as improper food storage"
Nasty. These people want us to support them and they can't even shit properly? Gas 'em.
Fact is, these camps are becoming magnets for trouble. THe Portland camp has raw sewage flowing down the street (stay green!) and averages 10 police calls a day, and have requested mental health experts to come in a help. Say what you will about the Teabaggers but at least they were toilet trained.
Nasty. These people want us to support them and they can't even shit properly? Gas 'em.
Fact is, these camps are becoming magnets for trouble. THe Portland camp has raw sewage flowing down the street (stay green!) and averages 10 police calls a day, and have requested mental health experts to come in a help. Say what you will about the Teabaggers but at least they were toilet trained.
19
ah- Pauls hysterical catterwalling is priceless!
you do realize that no one gives a shit about your pretencious little protests, don't you?
and that when they finally do, city by city, send in the cops with truncheons and teargas to beat the shit out of the smelly hippy-wannabes that Real America is going to howl with delight?
we can't wait......
you do realize that no one gives a shit about your pretencious little protests, don't you?
and that when they finally do, city by city, send in the cops with truncheons and teargas to beat the shit out of the smelly hippy-wannabes that Real America is going to howl with delight?
we can't wait......
20
So the protesters refused to move when asked (several times mind you) there was clear evidence that protesters were arming themselves with weapons (mostly wooded bats or batons) as well as training how to use them, and suddenly people act all surprised that they got tear gassed?
21
Latest OS statement: apparently the Natives are going to be put back in charge and religion is going to be put back into politics:
"we prioritize the involvement of indigenous sovereign people in the redesigning and rebuilding of a new way of living on their ancestral land in the context that there is one mother of us all, our earth mother"
Oh, and just in case you didn;t think this was the usual campus communists and socialists running this thing (you know, the 0.5% of the electorate:
"Socialist Equality Party in the United States and its sister parties around the world are spearheading this struggle, and we urge all workers and youth who want to take up this fight to join the SEP."
"we prioritize the involvement of indigenous sovereign people in the redesigning and rebuilding of a new way of living on their ancestral land in the context that there is one mother of us all, our earth mother"
Oh, and just in case you didn;t think this was the usual campus communists and socialists running this thing (you know, the 0.5% of the electorate:
"Socialist Equality Party in the United States and its sister parties around the world are spearheading this struggle, and we urge all workers and youth who want to take up this fight to join the SEP."
22
That's about the size of it, Kinison. Oh, and the protesters were throwing rocks, bottles and firecrackers at the cops too.
24
That's right assholes, blame the protesters. Never mind the OPDs horrific record and history.
http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/08/d…
http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/08/d…
25
I have started my letter writing campaign already, to show solidarity with the protesters.
Imagine waking up to this: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10…
Oakland Police Department, Interim Chief Howard Jordan manages and oversees the planning, development and implementation of all law enforcement and crime prevention programs for the City. .
OCOP Administration
Chief of Staff
Sgt. Christopher Bolton
Phone: (510) 238-3131
Fax: (510) 238-2251
Interim Executive Assistant to the Chief of Police
Ms. Kiona Suttle
Phone: (510) 238-3367
Adminstrative Assistant
Ms. Yolanda Morris
Phone: (510) 238-3132
The best way to contact the Chief's Office is via email: ocop@oaklandnet.com.
26
Apparently these clowns think an encampment filled with various extremist communists, socialists, anarchists, campus activists and mental health cases, all shitting into buckets, is a Revolution.
Good luck selling putting the Indians back in charge of decolonized America, with the Earth Mother in charge, to The other 99% of the 99%.
Good luck selling putting the Indians back in charge of decolonized America, with the Earth Mother in charge, to The other 99% of the 99%.
27
Ignore the paid trolls, they get a dollar per post.Thankfully hacktivists are on to them.http://letsbytecode.com/security/anonymous-hacked-hacked-site-with-child-pornography/
28
Yes, a dirty encampment justifies tear-gas, flash grenades, beanbag rounds and rubber bullets in surprise attacks early in the morning.
As far as rocks, bottles, paint, vinegar, urine and firecrackers being thrown at police, (while I certainly don't condone it) what the hell do you expect when you start shooting, gassing, and grenading protesters?
And out of curiosity, if armed and trained protesters are asking to get their heads cracked, where are all the teabaggers with police-cracked heads?
As far as rocks, bottles, paint, vinegar, urine and firecrackers being thrown at police, (while I certainly don't condone it) what the hell do you expect when you start shooting, gassing, and grenading protesters?
And out of curiosity, if armed and trained protesters are asking to get their heads cracked, where are all the teabaggers with police-cracked heads?
30
My students are watching this right now. There is an 8 year old speaking!!!!!!! This is what Democracy looks like . http://www.democracynow.org/
31
stranger comments are the most viscous, uninformed, trolling group of posters I have yet encountered in my blogging experience. If there was ever an example of what happens when people are presented with too much information and too little time to think, the comments section of the slog would be it. How about a little time out in the fresh air, talking to real people and see how your snarky, petty criticism would go over?
32
@31: Exactly. That is why they hide out on the Slog comment threads. It would be too easy to call them out on their bullshit anywhere else.
35
@28 Not doing what cops tell you generally results in tear gas, flash bangs, etc. Have the Tea Baggers ever disobeyed an order to disperse?
36
""Ignore the paid trolls, they get a dollar per post"
I dont get paid. I just see a group of pissed off people (who I can relate to) who were being asked nicely to leave, because what they were doing is illegal. You have the right to peacefully assemble and protest what you feel is unjust, but not 24/7 in a public park. I understand how you can justify these actions as being legal, but thats maybe for a judge to decide, until then the police have a legal right to remove a group of squatters on public lands who refuse to move or even respond to reasonable demands by the police.
You are fighting the police and mayor at this point, a group that has NOTHING TO DO with the reasons why you started this protest to begin with. You are making the situation worse for you and your friends, the message you want people to hear will be skewed. You are far better off, taking the camp to Washington DC and occupy the mall of america.
I dont get paid. I just see a group of pissed off people (who I can relate to) who were being asked nicely to leave, because what they were doing is illegal. You have the right to peacefully assemble and protest what you feel is unjust, but not 24/7 in a public park. I understand how you can justify these actions as being legal, but thats maybe for a judge to decide, until then the police have a legal right to remove a group of squatters on public lands who refuse to move or even respond to reasonable demands by the police.
You are fighting the police and mayor at this point, a group that has NOTHING TO DO with the reasons why you started this protest to begin with. You are making the situation worse for you and your friends, the message you want people to hear will be skewed. You are far better off, taking the camp to Washington DC and occupy the mall of america.
38
Coming soon to Seattle.
Once they got away with mass attacks by the cops in one city, it started spreading.
Once they got away with mass attacks by the cops in one city, it started spreading.
39
38: Yeah, and half the people on here will be cool with it because they like the nice neat official story the police and corporate newspapers cook up. It helps to justify the fact that our society is grossly stratified and that police misuse their force to suppress those who seek to change that fact. The fact is, the Stranger readers who have cushy jobs and stable homes don't really give a fuck about anyone else. Why should they? Why would they invest in changing something that directly benefits them. That would require some kind of communal sense of social obligation, which most well-off Americans obviously don't have.
40
@20, @22: Kinison and Fifty-Two-Eighty:
What is the source of your information? The Oakland Police? They also said that they didn't use flash grenades, but we've seen video of them doing so.
What is the source of your information? The Oakland Police? They also said that they didn't use flash grenades, but we've seen video of them doing so.
41
People in wheelchairs are apart of this movement. You shouldn't be upset that they gassed a person in a wheelchair, but you should be pissed they gassed people. The slog always treats disabled people like they are children. WE ARE NOT. People with disabilities want change!
43
@40 "What is the source of your information?"
Not at all, I get my information from users here.
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
"What you are describing sounds very much like what seems to be happening with Occupy Oakland. Many of the original campers there have left, citing fear from the thuggish element which has taken over, occupants have armed themselves with wooden staffs and are holding classes in how to wield them in confrontations with the police, I saw video of their "security" folks threaten to break a news crew's camera if the crew tried to enter the area.
I would not be at all surprised if some of this is fomented by agents provocateur. I know a lot of this went on back in the day that this old fart was on the front lines, and really expect to see it now in order to discredit the movement."
Naturally I have not verified if what PaulBarwick said was correct, I dont live in Oakland.
Not at all, I get my information from users here.
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
"What you are describing sounds very much like what seems to be happening with Occupy Oakland. Many of the original campers there have left, citing fear from the thuggish element which has taken over, occupants have armed themselves with wooden staffs and are holding classes in how to wield them in confrontations with the police, I saw video of their "security" folks threaten to break a news crew's camera if the crew tried to enter the area.
I would not be at all surprised if some of this is fomented by agents provocateur. I know a lot of this went on back in the day that this old fart was on the front lines, and really expect to see it now in order to discredit the movement."
Naturally I have not verified if what PaulBarwick said was correct, I dont live in Oakland.
45
@40, even some of the protesters are admitting that what Kinison referred to was basically correct. Read Gloomy Gus' link in the tear gas post (I had actually read that story before commenting here).
46
There is always more complication to issues than what is reported.
But I hope people can agree that regardless of reason to break up the camp, the city of Oakland did it with a very HEAVY hand.
Watch this video. It saves the "best" for the end (@ ~3 min).
http://www.ktvu.com/video/29587714/index…
I would be a fool to suggest that all of the protesters are peaceful, there is anger in this movement (in my experience though, at least here in Seattle, it is overall a very peaceful movement)
The action from the city of Oakland, however, does not help. It does not make people safer.
It did not prevent people from being hurt.
It did nothing to help public [esp mental] health.
It did nothing to help public stability.
This is fucked up.
But I hope people can agree that regardless of reason to break up the camp, the city of Oakland did it with a very HEAVY hand.
Watch this video. It saves the "best" for the end (@ ~3 min).
http://www.ktvu.com/video/29587714/index…
I would be a fool to suggest that all of the protesters are peaceful, there is anger in this movement (in my experience though, at least here in Seattle, it is overall a very peaceful movement)
The action from the city of Oakland, however, does not help. It does not make people safer.
It did not prevent people from being hurt.
It did nothing to help public [esp mental] health.
It did nothing to help public stability.
This is fucked up.
47
Not sure what CNN frontpage you're looking at. When I load http://www.cnn.com/ the left hand column right above Latest News links is a section dedicated to Occupy and the Economy, the first link of which is to a story about tear gas being used on protesters.
I do understand criticisms of the media when there are failures of coverage, but please check to make sure your accusations are valid before hurling them. It damages your credibility for when you really do need to call out a news agency.
I do understand criticisms of the media when there are failures of coverage, but please check to make sure your accusations are valid before hurling them. It damages your credibility for when you really do need to call out a news agency.
48
@44 There are a lot of problems with terminology here. From my understanding, flashbangs tend to be used inside buildings, and what the cops were using last night was some kind of grenade thing that, obviously, has a similar effect. (An effect that i saw firsthand, as I was on the ground in Oakland for four or five hours last night).
Another problem is that the OPD called in sixteen(!) other local and regional law-enforcement agencies, so they don't necessarily have a handle on who's using what. (For example, the OPD went on record saying they themselves didn't use any rubber bullets — but other sheriffs or cops clearly did, as they're still all over the ground in the plaza.)
Another problem is that the OPD called in sixteen(!) other local and regional law-enforcement agencies, so they don't necessarily have a handle on who's using what. (For example, the OPD went on record saying they themselves didn't use any rubber bullets — but other sheriffs or cops clearly did, as they're still all over the ground in the plaza.)
49
@44 The OPD's official statement indeed denied using flashbangs: http://www.kgoam810.com/Article.asp?id=2…
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