#occupyoakland
(05-01) 19:30 PDT Oakland –
Oakland police clashed repeatedly with Occupy activists Tuesday, firing tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades at several hundred protesters near City Hall in brief but volatile skirmishes that escalated as quickly as they dissipated.
Some protesters shoved against police lines with black shields bearing an “A” for anarchy. Some threw objects at officers, surrounded police cars and pounded on them. In one case, a protester dressed in black threatened an officer with a pole.
But many protesters remained peaceful, throwing flowers at the cops’ feet or marching peacefully with children in the Fruitvale District, vowing to avoid the violence downtown.
The daylong series of events on May Day was held throughout parts of Oakland, San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area by a wide range of protest groups, including Occupy, to honor International Workers’ Day and denounce economic inequities.
In Oakland in particular, the mood was tense from the beginning, despite the range of events that went from peaceful rallies to confrontations and vandalism.
“The tempo of the crowd was a lot more assertive, a lot more aggressive” than in past demonstrations involving Occupy groups, Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said in an afternoon press conference. He said the mood was so volatile that by 9 a.m. he had called for mutual aid from about a half-dozen area law enforcement agencies.
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Occupy Wall Street protesters marching tonight, chanting “New York is Oakland! Oakland is New York!”
Iraq Vet Critically Wounded at Occupy Oakland Protest
In video, Scott Olsen is bleeding from the head; witnesses say he was shot.
Scott Olsen returned unscathed from two tours in Iraq only to be critically wounded during a violent confrontation between police and Occupy Oakland protesters.
Ali Winston, a reporter for KALW Radio’s The Informant, posted a video on YouTube that shows people carrying Olsen, who is bleeding from the head. The people tell Winston that Olsen was shot. The incident occurred near 14th and Broadway at around 7:30 p.m. last night.
As of noon Wednesday, Olsen, 24, remained in critical condition at Highland Hospital in Oakland. A handful of friends, many of whom are also veterans of the Iraq war, stood vigil outside the emergency room door.
They said they had been informed by nurses that he was still unconscious. Aaron Hinde, an Iraq war veteran who, like Olsen is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, said Olsen was brought to the hospital by “two good Samaritans” around 8 p.m. Tuesday evening and lost consciousness on the way to the hospital.
“I think its terrible for him to go two tours in Iraq and exercise his rights that he fought so hard to defend and get a serious injury like this,” said his roommate Keith Shannon, who served alongside Olsen in the Marines in Iraq.
Olsen’s mother, Sandy Olsen of Onalaska, Wis., said her son joined the military out of high school in 2005 because he “wanted to help the people over there,” but soured on the war during his tours of duty.
When he came home, she said, her son joined Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group which has joined many of the Occupy Wall Street protests around the country.
His roommate, Shannon, said Olsen joined the protests “because he thought the banks pretty much run free and unregulated and are never held accountable for their actions.”
“It is about the people taking back the government as well as placing restrictions on the corporations,” he said.
Keith Olbermann Calls On Mayor Of Oakland To Fire Police Chief Or Resign!
“Well, next time I hear about how vets fight to protect our rights, I’ll remember the one they shot in the head for actually exercising them.”
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