Occupy San Francisco Rally Features Costumes, Michael Moore
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OAKLAND, Calif. — Anti-Wall Street demonstrators held a festive march through San Francisco Saturday, but tension marked another march in nearby Oakland as protesters rallied against police violence in the name of an Iraq War veteran who was injured during a police clash.
Many of the some 1,000 demonstrators in San Francisco wore costumes as organizers had urged, including suits in an apparent imitation of Wall Street bankers and Robin Hood outfits.
Before the march, left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore told them that excesses on Wall Street had stolen "the futures of so many of our citizens."
San Francisco police escorted the crowd as it snaked through city streets, and police spokesman Albie Esparza said there were no arrests or any disturbances.
The crowd stopped briefly and chanted in support of Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq War veteran who suffered a fractured skull in an Oakland protest on Tuesday.
Later Saturday night, hundreds marched through the streets of Oakland in protest of police violence, as helicopters hovered overhead and officers in riot gear lined the streets.
The protesters chanted "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "This is what a police state looks like!"
At one point tensions grew as protesters came face-to-face with a line of officers and some began taunting them, according to the Oakland Tribune.
But march organizers began shouting "Peace people up front!" then stood between some of the more unruly demonstrators and police officers. The situation grew calm and the march returned to the Oakland camp where it began.
There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries.
A hospital spokesman said Olsen's condition was fair Saturday, and he had been moved from Highland Hospital in Oakland to another facility, but he could not say where.
Moore and other prominent figures had asked to visit Olsen, but his parents were restricting visitors to just family, Highland spokesman Vintage Foster told the Oakland Tribune.
"The only thing they care about is their son getting better," Foster said.
Fellow veterans say police fired an object that struck him in the head, but authorities say the object has yet to be definitively established, as well as the person responsible for the injury. His plight has become a rallying cry at Occupy protests around the world.
Oakland Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan defended the officers' action in the Tuesday incident, which stemmed from an effort to drive protesters from the encampment. He said in a statement that officers used what they believed to be the least amount of force possible to protect themselves, but that "all allegations of misconduct and excessive uses of force are being thoroughly investigated."
The encampment at the Oakland plaza near city hall has grown to about 50 tents, with organizers saying up to a thousand people were in the area late Friday with very few police in sight.
Protesters there also announced a strike on Nov. 2, when they will be urging banks and corporations to close for the day.
Across the San Francisco Bay, protesters at the San Francisco encampment reported earlier Saturday that city workers temporarily moved some protesters to clean the plaza.
Christine Falvey, a spokeswoman for that city's mayor, Ed Lee, had said earlier that the camp cannot remain for "too many more days" because of health concerns.
Events in other California cities, including Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Los Angeles and its suburbs, were held Saturday.
The LA protest spread north to the San Fernando Valley, but police said that unlike the ones downtown at City Hall, these demonstrators won't be setting up camp. About 20 protesters calling themselves Occupy San Fernando Valley marched at Van Nuys Civic Center.
Los Angeles police released a statement saying anyone who violates the property's rules by setting up tents or trespassing after hours would be removed.
Protesters said they would move to nearby streets when police tell them to leave
Demonstrators also gathered in Lancaster, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles in the mostly rural Antelope Valley.
In San Diego, police broke up a three-week-old encampment early Friday, arresting 51 people.
In California's agricultural heartland, officials prepared to oust a group of about 30 demonstrators from next to a Fresno County courthouse. County officials said the group's permit would expire midnight Monday, and that demonstrators faced jail time and $500 fines if they remained.
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Watson reported from San Diego. Contributing to this report were Associated press reporters Chris Weber in Los Angeles; Tracie Cone in Fresno; Terence Chea and Jason Dearen in San Francisco; and Garance Burke in Oakland.
Via HuffPost Miami:
When an Occupy Miami member offered evicted protestors vacant apartments in a building he owns in Downtown Miami's Overtown neighborhood, it seemed like the perfect solution: the 'Peace City' space would provide headquarters for the movement and shelter a small faction of the group's most vulnerable members. But it hasn't gone well. Other tenants say the building has become a cesspool of drug use and violence while non-resident Occupy Miami members are trying to distance themselves from the 'radicals' -- all while the two factions are wrestling for control over Occupy Miami's social media sites and future plans.
The feud between the Overtown occupiers and more mainstream members has only gotten worse. The two factions are now battling for control of Occupy Miami's social media sites. The movement's main Twitter account recently announced it had been "hijacked by a small, non-consensus group of radical members." The Occupy Miami Facebook page was also temporarily hacked by someone inside Peace City. Meanwhile, the Overtown occupation is slowly driving away more moderate members."This is a black eye on the Occupy movement," says Shannon Reaze, an Overtown community organizer and Occupy Miami supporter who is now helping tenants move out of Paz's building. "The violence and drugs going on here are way outside of what I thought Occupy stood for. This place is destabilized."
...The supposedly hard-core activists here spend their days drinking and getting high. And as Peace City devolves into lawlessness, the most committed occupiers are leaving. Local landowners and politicians want the place shut down, while cops are suspicious. Yet as long as Paz wants the protesters around, nothing short of a demolition order can keep them out.
Via HuffPost DC:
WASHINGTON -- Occupy DC has a new lawsuit involving tents on its hands. But it doesn't involve temporary structures in McPherson Square.Two protesters arrested during a February action outside Merrill Lynch's offices on 15th Street NW near McPherson Square have filed suit against the Metropolitan Police Department, Legal Times reports. (Read the complaint here.)
The plaintiffs, Samuel Dukore and Kelly Canavan, were part of a "targeted occupation" of Merrill Lynch on Feb. 13 where protesters were raising awareness about Merrill Lynch's reportedly close ties with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Issa, for his part, claims that the reports of these close ties are "wildly inaccurate."
Full story here.
OWS reports via its website:
After the brutal attack on the attempted re-occupation of Liberty Square by NYPD on the 6-month anniversary of #OWS, a number of Occupiers have relocated their base of occupation to Union Square in midtown Manhattan, a point of convergence for several #OWS protests over the past 6 months.According to reports on the ground, several dozen people slept in the park after the illegal and violent raid on Liberty Square. Over 70 people remain, now on Day 3. Although tents and tables are still banned, Occupiers have brought blankets and sleeping gear. Many are calling it ¨the new Occupation.¨ In addition to holding General Assemblies, Union Square Occupiers are providing vital jail support for those arrested on #M17 as they are released from NYPD custody. So far, the NYPD has made no attempt to remove Occupiers or prevent them from sleeping in the park.
Occupy Long Beach is defending the mother's home. For more information, click here.
Cecily McMillan, an Occupy Wall Street activist once profiled in Rolling Stone, suffered a seizure Saturday night during protest action near Zuccotti Park. Many on-scene reported Ms. McMillan had trouble breathing after she was tackled and handcuffed by law enforcement.
A video uploaded to Youtube late Saturday night purports to show the attack. Two women can be heard commenting, “There’s Cecily,” then there is confusion as the police clearly perform a violent take-down on someone in the crowd.
According to Jeff Sharlet’s November, 2011 article about the Occupy Movement, this may be Ms. McMillan’s second violent encounter with police.
To read the full story, go here.
Cops caught on video about 10 seconds in taking down the woman who had the apparent seizure:
Watch video from inside Zuccotti Park as police moved in late last night:
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The paper reports from last night's chaos at Zuccotti Park:
At one point, a woman who appeared to be suffering from seizures flopped on the ground in handcuffs as bystanders shouted for the police to remove the cuffs and provide medical attention. For several minutes the woman lay on the ground as onlookers made increasingly agonized demands until an ambulance arrived and the woman was placed inside.By 12:20 a.m., a line of officers pushed against some of the remaining protesters, forcing them south on Broadway, at times swinging batons and shoving people to the ground.
Kobi Skolnick, 30, said that officers pushed him in several directions and that as he tried to walk away, he was struck from behind in the neck. “One of the police ran and hit me with a baton,” he said.
To read the full story, go here.
| @ Greg_Palast : Our photographer ZD Roberts beaten @OWS Zucotti Park by cops. Thrown to ground, hair grabbd, hit with clubs while yelling, I'M PRESS PRESS! |
| @ macfathom : Doubling east on Barclay, and now the ragged front of the march is at City Hall. #OWS |
| @ LuddoftheFuture : girl in the street having a seizure and the cops have her in handcuffs. can this get any worse (live at http://t.co/4pLyy3gP) |
Activists cry out for paramedics. The woman is limp on the ground. "Come on you violent bastards where's the paramedics?"
| @ jeffrae : March is heading north up broadway #ows #occupywallstreet |
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| @ macfathom : Dozens of arrests, many cuffed and sitting on broadway waiting for their ride to jail. #OWS |
| @ RDevro : Police are barricading the park. It's cleared. I witnessed countless violent arrests. No way to estimate numbers. |
| @ troutish : Protesters being dragged out by the head at #OWS #Zucotti Park http://t.co/qomhKkrA |
Cops pulling apart human chains. There are shouts for mic checks. Now, chants start forming. "The NYPD are sweeping through," says Tim on the live stream.
| @ ANIMALNewYork : NYPD just made an announcement that Brookfield has to "clean the park" and Liberty Plaza is officially "closed." |
| @ OccupyWallStNYC : Bagpipers just started marching into the park bringing the party mood with them, NYPD arrested one of them, and things got real heated. #OWS |
| @ JackieHRye : NYPD just "destroyed" the tent in Zuccotti Park, Occupiers call for its re-building. Marching band also going through the park. #OWS |
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| @ RDevro : The tent in the middle of the park continues to fill with people planning to stay the night. Lots of energy here. |
Activists ask for more room as the tent is growing, expanding.
"It looks like a floating tent." -- as Tim on his live stream.
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| @ OccupyWallStNYC : .@justawall is leading us in a song! "Hit the road, banks! And don't ya come back no more no more no more no more!" #OWS |
Activists have assembled make-shift, cardboard sleeping areas inside Zuccotti Park. The cardboard is joined by a large green tarp.
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| @ RDevro : A tarp is going up in Zuccotti as protesters march around the park chant-dancing. #m17 http://t.co/rJfP3GF9 |
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AP/The Huffington Post TERRY COLLINS and JULIE WATSON First Posted: 10/31/11 02:32 AM ET Updated: 10/31/11 02:39 AM ET