It’s a very police state Thanksgiving!

This violence was necessary because Occupy Oakland had the nerve to order port-O-potties for their free Thanksgiving meal. Can’t be having that, now can we?

I was there to take down the names of people who were arrested… As I’m standing there, some African-American woman goes up to a police officer and says, ‘I need to get in. My daughter’s there. I want to know if she’s OK.’ And he said, ‘Move on, lady.’ And they kept pushing with their sticks, pushing back. And she was crying. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he throws her to the ground and starts hitting her in the head,” says Smith. “I walk over, and I say, ‘Look, cuff her if she’s done something, but you don’t need to do that.’ And he said, ‘Lady, do you want to get arrested?’ And I said, ‘Do you see my hat? I’m here as a legal observer.’ He said, ‘You want to get arrested?’ And he pushed me up against the wall.

—Retired New York Supreme Court Judge Karen Smith, working as a legal observer after the raids on Zucotti Park this Tuesday, as quoted in this video.

I’ve talked to people—a fellow just last night on Reddit, even—who say protesters should step aside because police are authority figures who deserve respect. And if they don’t step aside, they should expect to be moved forcefully, by whatever means the officer sees fit.

Bookmark this quote in response to such arguments. I don’t agree that authority figures should be respected for their titles rather than their actions, but that seems to be a necessity for those in the military, so the argument is going to keep coming up. If it’s all about rank, shouldn’t a police officer defer to a retired state supreme court justice? This quote is evidence that this is not about respect at all, but about power: some cops feel they have a right to abuse these protesters. They not only think they are above the law, they believe the protesters are beneath the law. These cops are putting protesters into the same category they frequently put poor people and people of color. So this situation is nothing new, we have white, middle-class people getting a taste of the kind of treatment of our citizenry that leads to situations like the shooting of Amadou Diallo and Oscar Grant. Which only emboldens and radicalizes those who have been dehumanized by police. It’s like Judge Smith says in the interview, “But in the end, they were enforcing private property interests. And that’s really what—the message, I think, from the whole Occupy Wall Street’s about.”

nuestrahermana:

From Oakland Commune At Frank Ogawa Plaza To Protesting The Streets of Downtown : Occupy Oakland In Pictures

by Nuestra Hermana

On October 25th between 4:30 a.m and 5:00 a.m. over 500 police from different bay area counties surrounded “Oakland Commune”, the downtown Oakland tent city of protesters for Occupy Oakland.

The raid was not peaceful. Protesters were surrounded and rubber bullets, flash grenades & tear gas canisters were shot directly at them in order to get them to disperse. Protesters who were there state that “police from all entranced.. rushed in with sticks and began beating people”. (read more)

Yesterday evening, protestors tried to protest & take back the Plaza once more but were met with 500 police dressed in riot gear. The tactics used were brutal and several protestors were injured. Including Scott Olsen, an Iraq war veteran with Veterans Against War from San Francisco who came to support Oakland in solidarity. He is currently at Highland Hospital in critical condition from a fractured skull and brain swelling caused by OPD. (read more)

OPD is denying ever having used flash grenades and are stating that the flashes seen were from M-80’s brought by protesters. Though, as you can see above, there is picture evidence that says otherwise. In fact, there are numerous videos.

There is no question that the level of police brutality and violence was uncalled for and rather horrendous.

These assaults are disturbing to watch and all the anger against the brutality and silencing of peoples right to protest is completely righteous but let us not forget that police brutality is nothing new for Oakland and minority communities.

Let us not forget Oscar Grant, Raheim Brown, Mack “Jody” Woodfox, only a few amongst many other victims of OPD police violence & murder.

Let us attempt to keep ourselves and others around us as safe as possible.

During these protests, document everything because there have been efforts by police to erase online evidence of brutality (read more), and make sure you know your rights and carry a copy of THIS wherever you go & make sure to have these numbers & contact information bookmarked.

Keep strong, keep organized, respect each other, take care of each other and remember to make your voices heard & have your experiences documented. It has been made obvious that you cannot count for those in office to do the speaking for you.

Below is Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s most recent press release. This is part of her statement: 

“Frank Ogawa Plaza will continue to be open as a free speech area from 6 am to 10 pm. We want to thank the police, fire, public works and other employees who worked over the last week to peacefully close the encampment. We also thank the majority of the protestors who peacefully complied with city officials. 

I commend Chief Jordan for a generally peaceful resolution to a situation that deteriorated and concerned our community.” Read the rest here (including the 5,500+ and counting angry citizen responses)

Today at 6pm on 14th and Broadway, Oaklanders will once more take their protest to the street. Follow Occupy Oakland on Twitter here.

People in these photos:

 Cat Brooks with the Onyx Organizing Commitee (1st picture),

Scott Olsen, an Iraq war veteran from Veterans Against War Currently in critical condition with a fractured skull & brain swelling at Highland Hospital (2nd picture)

Unnamed Elementary School Teacher holding up flash grenade + rifle cartridges (3rd)

Oakland Teachers against police violence (4th picture)

Samsarah Morgan, co-founder of the Occupy Oakland Children’s Village (5th picture)

*Stephanie M (in middle of photo) from CUIDO (7th picture)

Nurses from National Nurses United (9th picture)

Photos from: The Black Hour,  Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP of The Guardian, Eddie Codel,

*Special thanks to QueLola for her post, which helped me identify the protester in the 8th picture.