Photo: Oakland North. Navy veteran Joshua Sheperd holding Veterans for Peace flag, Occupy Oakland, Tue. night.
Last night, hundreds of police in riot gear from divisions throughout Northern California descended on the Occupy Oakland encampment, armed with tear gas, an LRAD sonic weapon (the “sound cannon”), and various projectiles — by some sources, rubber bullets and bean bags.
According to various reports, more than a hundred arrests were made. Two police officers were injured, and an untold number of protesters.
My post from last night is here, with links to video.
And as I noted last night, President Obama’s recent remarks on a series of demonstrations elsewhere may prove instructive.
Oakland North was one of a number of small, independent publications on the scene last night live-tweeting photos and a blow-by-blow of the crackdown. One of their photos is above.
One YouTube video is here, capturing the moment when the police launched the first round of multiple rounds of tear-gas “bombs.” From photos tweeted last night, and this Reuters photo from last night (by photographer Stephen Lam), this appears to be one of the brands of CS gas used on the protesters.
Photo: Reuters.
Our own Dean Putney took the train over from San Francisco a little later on in the wee hours. He has posted photos here, mostly after things had quieted down somewhat. One of those is below.
Photo: Dean Putney.
This video shows “Veterans for Peace member Scott Olsen wounded by a less-lethal round fired by either San Francisco Sheriffs deputies or Palo Alto Police on October 25, 2011 at 14th Street and Broadway in Downtown Oakland.” He appears to have been shot in the face.
Here is another video showing police using what are identified as “flash-bang rounds” on protesters. And here is another.
The Oakland Police Department claim they responded in force because protesters threw M-80 explosives at police officers. People I’m following who were there at the time of the first police strike say this was not the case. On CNN as I type, protester Rachel Jackson of Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality and State Repression claims that the police reports are out of order, and that the order to disperse was not issued in the manner reported. There were lone crackpots here and there throughout the night tossing a single bottle or rock, she and other eyewitnesses have said, but they were outnumbered by those committed to peaceful civil disobedience. “We want an end to martial law in Oakland,” says Ms. Jackson.
Bob Mackey and the New York Times Lede blog team have an extensive post here.
And Quinn Norton is traveling from Occupy to Occupy, reporting here at the Wired News liveblog.
Here’s another good recap, this from the Oakland Tribune.
Oakland-based photographer Jean-Philippe Dobrin has been down at the protest, and has an extensive photo set here.
Democracy Now is, as one might expect, covering this heavily. Their report of last night’s raid in Oakland is here.