« Occupy Oakland » tourne à l’émeute – 26 octobre 2011

Riots erupt in Oakland, Atlanta clears out Occupiers

hotair.com

OCTOBER 26, 2011 BY ED MORRISSEY

Seems like Oakland has finally had enough of the Occupy Movement. Hours afterwarning protesters to leave public property, police intercepted them as the demonstrators tried to return. The mob attacked, and police went into full riot mode:

The police in Oakland dispersed hundreds of protesters using tear gas and flash bombs on Tuesday night as crowds tried to re-enter a plaza outside of City Hall that the authorities had cleared of an encampment earlier in the day. … By Wednesday morning in downtown Oakland, a dim cloud of gas still hung in the air over Frank Ogawa Plaza, according to images broadcast on CNN. A small number of police in riot gear stood by barricades around the plaza and a handful of protesters held signs nearby. “It sounded like bombs,” said Joaquin Jutt, 24, a digital animator who was among the protesters on Tuesday night. “There was a stinging and burning in my throat, eyes and nostrils. My eyes burned like there was hot sauce in them.”

Zombie continues his close coverage of Occupy on the West Coast with photos and video at PJ Tatler, and adds this:

After the Occupy Oakland encampment was torn down early Tuesday morning by police, the ousted protesters reconvened outside the Oakland Library on Tuesday afternoon and voted to attempt a re-occupation of the same plaza from which they had just been evicted. Summoned by waves of emergency tweets and emails, fresh recruits joined the evicted Occupiers and early this evening once again marched on downtown Oakland, intending to reclaim Frank Ogawa Plaza. But the Oakland Police were of course monitoring all this, and along with many other local police departments they were waiting for the protesters’ invasion. After an hours-long standoff at 14th and Broadway, interrupted by several confrontations and arrests, everything started to turn violent some time after 9:30pm.

What happens when you defy the police and try to “reclaim” a public plaza that the city allowed for a single use for weeks? This:

Be sure to check out the video message from an Occupier who promises to come to Oakland to arrest “every single officer involved,” if you want to start your day out with a laugh.

For the record, the Oakland PD denies that they were using flash-bang grenades:

Dozens of police in riot gear and hundreds of protesters in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse in downtown Oakland on Tuesday, with authorities using tear gas to respond to demonstrators’ repeated agitations.

The latest such skirmish came around 11 p.m. as some protesters began throwing bottles among a crowd that had reconvened in front of City Hall, where a haze of chemical smoke still hung in the air following a similar clash at the site about an hour earlier.It was the fourth time police used tear gas in three hours.

Authorities have denied reports that they used flash bang canisters to help break up the crowds, saying the loud noises came from large firecrackers thrown at police by protesters. Police also report being attacked with rocks. Read more…