BREAKING: Riot Police Destroy Occupy Encampment and Tear Gas Media

Chris Rock once said, “That tiger didn’t go crazy. That tiger went tiger!” Well this morning the Oakland Police department went State. 500 paid thugs (i.e. officers and sheriff’s deputies) from over 12 agencies assisted the OPD in a pre-dawn raid of OccupyOakland, evicting campers from the newly named Oscar Grant Plaza in front of Oakland city hall. Riot police clad in gas masks used rubber bullets, bean bag rounds, flash grenades, tear gas canisters and an LRAD sonic cannon against non-violent peaceful protesters. Mass Arrests are being reported, and although the police reported that there were no injuries, live-twitter accounts disagree. City Officials have advised downtown business to remain closed until further notice.

The Occupiers were not unprepared for this eventuality and have activated an “emergency reconvergence plan” beginning with an emergency assembly today at 4pm at Oakland Public Library on 14th and Madison. I’ll be there, and I’ll keep you updated.

One of the first eyewitness accounts is coming from Kevin Army, a journalist with Salon.com. He reports that when the police lined up before the raid he attempted to capture video of their helmet numbers when officer #570 shouted and rammed into him, pushing him to the ground. He was told by a commanding officer to stand in a designated area with the mainstream media trucks and other independent media. After the police had herded all the media together, Kevin reports that they were shot with tea gas, disbursed and not allowed to return to cover the raid. He believed this was intentional.

Here’s his video:

OccupyOakland had been dubbed a “demilitarized zone.” While OccupySF has faced raids and police brutality from it’s inception, the City of Oakland had been exceptionally welcoming of the encampment. They were permitted to set up over 150 tents. The encampment had portable toilets and garbage service. They had both a first-aid and childcare tent. They even hosted live music and screened films with a projector on a theater sized screen. Although there were isolated reports of fights, drug use, and sexual harassment… such is Oakland… and the encampments General Assemblies were already organizing autonomous solutions to these problems. A leaderless patrol of 10 to 20 Occupiers originally formed to run 24-hour “cop watch” for the encampment were working to diffuse fights, discourage hard drug use, and protect women and queer Occupiers from sexual harassment. OccupyOakland had become more than an organized protest. It was an experiment in self-governance, addressing many of the systemic problems the City of Oakland is not addressing. For nearly two weeks not a single person went hungry in Oakland, and many of the cities homeless population reported a sense of safety in the encampment not felt anywhere else in the city.

Friday afternoon the city posted eviction notices saying that those who stayed would be subject to arrest because, “neither the demonstrators nor the City could maintain safe or sanitary conditions.” Karen Boyd, a spokesbureaucrat for the mayor, told the Oakland Tribune that, “the protesters had shown themselves incapable of self-governance.” But that’s patently false. All the city’s complaints were already being spontaneously handled by the Occupiers. The purpose of this raid, in my opinion, was precisely because they were showing that they were capable of self-governance, and both Police and City Officials are terrified that you’ll realize we don’t need them. Occupiers had no intention of leaving, deciding at the next General Assembly to defend the encampment. Several hundred Occupiers worked to block off the entrances to the plaza using dumpsters, wooden pallets, and even police-style metal barricades in the hours before the raid.

Around 3:00 AM reports circulated amongst the campers that 10 to 20 police cars were patrolling the streets around the plaza. At least two helicopters lit up the plaza from above. Police action began around 4:40 AM when hundreds of officers from multiple Bay Area cities surrounded the encampment. About 170 Occupiers remained on site when officers ordered them to disburse over loud speakers. The Occupiers locked arms and shouted as police moved in. The invaders fired tear gas and beanbag rounds at the non-violent protesters and ultimately arrested 75 for “misdemeanor illegal lodging.” Police ripped apart the tents and threw them in the street. According to authorities the plaza was “contained” around 5:30 AM.

PHOTOS
Truly horrific photos of OccupyOakland police raid

The Occupy Oakland account live tweeted the raid:

The Occupiers fully intend to retake the Plaza insisting that they are neither defeated nor discouraged. They expect this aggression from the city to fire people up even more and to translate into a new protesters.