Riot Gear And Bonfires: Occupy Oakland Degenerates Into ‘Chaos’ Overnight!

[Jake Martinez]

Thanks to Obama & His Puppet Master!

Posted on The Blaze-By Jonathon M. Seidl-On November 3, 2011:

“OAKLAND, Calif. (The Blaze/AP) — A day of demonstrations in Oakland that began as a significant step toward expanding the political and economic influence of the Occupy Wall Street movement, ended with police in riot gear arresting dozens of protesters who had marched through downtown to break into a vacant building, shattering windows, spraying graffiti and setting fires along the way.

“We go from having a peaceful movement to now just chaos,” said protester Monique Agnew, 40.

{…}

KTVU-TV has more:

The confrontation began after protesters started a large bonfire in the middle of a downtown street. Dozens of police in riot gear moved in on hundreds of protesters as the flames leapt more than 15 feet in the air from several large metal and plastic trash bins that had been pushed together.

Police warned protesters to clear out before firing several rounds of tear gas and “flash bang” grenades to clear the area.

In the aftermath of the police actions, protesters with cloth wrapped around their faces to protect them from the stench of the gas marched through the area chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets.”

Some marchers wore gas masks.

Glass covered streets and sidewalks from windows of area businesses that were shattered.

{…}

The far-flung movement of protesters challenging the world’s economic systems and distribution of wealth has gained momentum in recent weeks, capturing the world‘s attention by shutting down one of the nation’s busiest shipping ports toward the end of a daylong “general strike” that prompted solidarity rallies across the U.S.

About 3,000 people converged on the Port of Oakland, the nation’s fifth-busiest harbor, in a nearly five-hour protest Wednesday, swarming the area and blocking exits and streets with illegally parked vehicles and hastily-erected, chain-link fences.

Port officials said they were forced to cease maritime operations, citing concerns for workers’ safety. They said in a statement they hope to resume operations Thursday “and that Port workers will be allowed to get to their jobs without incident. Continued missed shifts represent economic hardship for maritime workers, truckers, and their families, as well as lost jobs and lost tax revenue for our region.”

Supporters in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and elsewhere staged smaller-scale demonstrations; each group saying its protest was a show of support for the Oakland movement, which became a rallying point when an Iraq War veteran was seriously injured in a clash with police last week.

The larger Occupy movement has yet to coalesce into an organized association and until the port shut down had largely been limited scattershot marches, rallies and tent encampments since it began in September.

Organizers in Oakland had viewed the day as a significant victory. Police said that about 7,000 people participated in demonstrations throughout the day that were peaceful except for a few incidents of vandalism. In fact, the city’s mayor called it a “good day” for the protesters and the “99 percent movement:”

{…}

One of the protest leaders, Boots Riley, touted the day as a success, saying “we put together an ideological principle that the mainstream media wouldn’t talk about two months ago.”

His comments came before a group of demonstrators moved to break into the Travelers Aid building in order to, as some shouting protesters put it, “reclaim the building for the people.”

{…}

Riley, whose anti-capitalist views are well-documented, considered the port shut down particularly significant for organizers who targeted it in an effort to stop the “flow of capital.” The port sends goods primarily to Asia, including wine as well as rice, fruits and nuts, and handles imported electronics, apparel and manufacturing equipment, mostly from Asia, as well as cars and parts from Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai. An accounting of the financial toll from the shutdown was not immediately available.

The potential for the chaos that ultimately erupted was not something Riley wanted to even consider.

“If they do that after all this …” He paused, then added, “They’re smarter than that.”

But the peace that abided throughout the day, did not last into the night.

Occupy protesters voicing anger over a budget trim that forced the closure of a homeless aid program converged on the empty building where it had been housed. They blocked off city streets with Dumpsters and other large trash bins, starting bonfires that leapt 15-feet in the air.

City officials released a statement describing the spasm of unrest.

“Oakland Police responded to a late night call that protesters had broken into and occupied a downtown building and set several simultaneous fires,” the statement read. “The protesters began hurling rocks, explosives, bottles, and flaming objects at responding officers. Several private and municipal buildings sustained heavy vandalism. Dozens of protesters wielding shields were surrounded and arrested.”

Protesters reported running from several rounds of tear gas and bright flashes and deafening pops that some thought were caused by “flash bang” grenades. Fire crews arrived and suppressed the flames.

Meanwhile, protesters and police faced off for the rest of the night in an uneasy standoff.

{…}

In Philadelphia, protesters were arrested earlier Wednesday as they held a sit-in at the headquarters of cable giant Comcast

In New York, about 100 military veterans marched in uniform and stopped in front of the New York Stock Exchange, standing in loose formation as police officers on scooters separated them from the entrance. On the other side was a lineup of NYPD horses carrying officers with nightsticks.

“We are marching to express support for our brother, (Iraq war veteran) Scott Olsen, who was injured in Oakland,” said Jerry Bordeleau, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq through 2009.

The veterans were also angry that returned from war to find few job prospects.

“Wall Street corporations have played a big role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Bordeleau, now a college student. He said private contractors have reaped big profits in those countries.

In Boston, college students and union workers marched on Bank of America offices, the Harvard Club and the Statehouse to protest the nation’s burgeoning student debt crisis.

They say total outstanding student loans exceed credit card debt, increase by $1 million every six minutes and will reach $1 trillion this year, potentially undermining the economy.

“There are so many students that are trying to get jobs and go on with their lives,” said Sarvenaz Asasy of Boston, who joined the march after recently graduating with a master’s degree and $60,000 in loan debt. “They‘ve educated themselves and there are no jobs and we’re paying tons of student loans. For what?”

And among the other protests in Oakland, parents and their kids, some in strollers, joined in by forming a “children’s brigade.”

“There’s absolutely something wrong with the system,” said Jessica Medina, a single mother who attends school part time and works at an Oakland cafe. “We need to change that.”

—

• Associated Press writers Garance Burke and Marcus Wohlsen in San Francisco, Beth Duff-Brown in San Francisco, Mark Pratt in Boston, JoAnn Loviglio in Philadelphia, Jon Fahey and Verena Dobnik in New York and Christina Hoag in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Source:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/riot-gear-and-bonfires-occupy-oakla...

Note: The following articles and/or blog posts and videos relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:

I. ‘Shut This City Down’: Inside Occupy Wall Street’s Anti-Police Racial Justice March!

Posted on The Blaze-By Buck Sexton-On November 3, 2011:

“During Occupy Wall Street’s March for Racial Justice and Against Police Brutality march last night, the Occupiers gave me a glimpse into their game plan going forward, and it’s looks like things could get really ugly.

In strategic terms, the OWS next phase plan can be broken down into two parts:

• The Occupiers will force a major confrontation with police.
• They will attempt to effectively shut down a portion of New York City.”

It is not clear to me in what order those events will occur, or when either will be attempted, but I do believe after hearing and seeing the marchers in action that both a confrontation and shutdown are now goals of the OWS movement.

What I observed last night was a march that highlighted Occupy Oakland’s new temporary status as the heart of the resistance and the Occupiers’ deep rage against the police.

Solidarity with Occupy Oakland has in fact become a huge rallying cry for the Wall Street Occupiers. Their recent clash with Oakland police resulted in the serious injury of Iraq war veteran, Scott Olson, which has given considerable momentum to the overall Occupy movement.

In addition, the Port of Oakland has been successfully shut down, much to the pleasure of the Occupy Wall Street crowd in Zuccotti Park. While there are rumors that Oakland, not downtown New York, will officially become the epicenter of the OWS movement, what I saw during the March For Racial Justice Against Police Brutality led me to believe that the Wall Street Occupiers are readying for their next phase.

I arrived at Zuccotti around 3:00 PM yesterday.  A group of Occupy Veterans had marched in protest from Zuccotti park earlier that afternoon, and I could still see some men milling around the crowd  in army digitized camouflage uniforms later on as the sun was setting.

The organizers left little to the imagination regarding OWS plans going forward. More “general strikes” are in the works, it’s just a matter of organizing the participants and picking a day. As the Occupiers prepared to march on Police Headquarters (located at 1 Police Plaza, and often referred to as One-PP), one organizer gave the crowd some history on general strikes, and explained that the Occupiers hope to shut down cities across the country and the globe.

Here is a transcript of her comments on the Occupy Oakland and the way ahead:

”The last city in the United States to have had a general strike, it was 1946. Today is not quite a general strike, it’s not too f***ing bad, in fact right now there are at least 5,000 gathered at the spot of Occupy Oakland three hours before the rally. Many city workers were told not to bother, don’t come in, shut the city down. Many students, as well as teachers and professors, have walked out of school, and are gathering in Occupy Oakland. And we are here today to stand in solidarity along with our brothers and sisters in Tahrir Square, in Chicago, in Denver, and in Oakland. Because ours is a global movement, and this is our day of action.”

And below is the raw video from the event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-lcqzMWs9c&feature=player_embe...

Another march organizer was even more explicit in his threats about citywide shutdowns:

“We are Oakland. If you move on Oakland we’ll shut you down. If you move on New york, well shut you down. The people have the right to stand up whatever city they’re in. Right now new york is showing you the happy face, Oakland showed you the other face so we here we’ll deal with the face were given. If we see the ugly one, we’ll move on it. If they let us stay here we’ll be here in peace. The choice is not that of the 99, it’s of the 100. The 1% will suffer the consequence if they try to take away our rights. New york in general strike, Houston in general strike Sacramento in general strike. We will go wherever we need to when they try to shut us down.”

Below is a short clip of that exchange on city shutdowns across America:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upkmAPOgKgA&feature=player_embe...

A member of Iraq Veterans Against the War seemed to have a Freudian slip when he told the crowd that they were about to embark on an illegal march, and some of them would probably be arrested. He was quickly corrected by agitated organizers who stated their belief that the Constitution gives them the right to march when they want, where they want, without heed of local laws.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8heyLBs3JuM&feature=player_embe...

The march, technically called the “March For Racial Justice and Against Police Brutality,” moved north  up Broadway without incident. The usual gaggle of reporters and photographers walked a few feet ahead of the main protest group and jockeyed for the best oncoming shot. Along with the standard refrain of ”All day, all week, occupy wall street,” the protestors worked in the chant of ”Oakland, New York, Wisconsin, We Will Fight, We Will Win.”

But most interesting to me was the cry of “Students and workers, shut this city down.”

{…}

I arrived just a few minutes ahead of the main protest column at NYPD headquarters. There were metal barricades around the entire space, and police standing at intervals of about 10 feet on all sides.  Somewhere around 500 protestors were gathered.

Some Occupiers in the crowd worried aloud that it was a “trap” by the NYPD, and that the police were going to pen in all of the protestors and arrest them en masse. On the contrary, and to the Occupiers’ apparent disappointment, I overheard several NYPD officers explain to protestors who asked them that they were free to gather and speak to their hearts’ content within the plaza area enclosed by the barricades.

{…}

Once all elements of the march caught up, the anti-police portion of the evening kicked into full swing. The human microphone was actually necessary this time, as the people were packed in closely enough that it was difficult to get near “facilitators” who gave the speeches.

One of those facilitators pointed to NYPD headquarters in the background and said that “to people of color, this building is a tombstone…here lies Sean Bell… Abner Louima…” and listed the names of several more individuals killed by police. The speech went on to call for the protestors to “make some noise for Oscar Grant,” referring to an unarmed man killed by police in Oakland whose death lead to widespread looting and riots.

Accidental or not, and regardless of punishments meted out to the officers who made grave errors, all the police were considered guilty last night.

“We will defend these neighborhoods,” another Occupiers said,  ”we will march to these communities of color.” The theme was simple enough: the police are bad, and the Occupiers will march on poor neighborhoods to further impress upon minorities that the police are racist murderers.

The Occupiers even took an oath to to this effect on the spot. One organizer told the crowd to raise their right hands, and say  ”I swear to protest under the First amendment Rights whenever there are acts of brutality or other oppression of rights for communities of color.”

But the moment that received the biggest reaction from the crowd was when an Occupy Oakland medic who claimed to have been with Scott Olson on the night he was wounded spoke up about the recent clash with police. A placard with Olson’s photo on it was passed around the crowd, carried by Sgt. Shamar Thomas, famous for his own clash with the NYPD on October 15^th.

{…}

As I walked away from the protest in front of 1PP, it became clear to me that Occupy is putting a dangerous narrative in place. The Occupiers are setting up the police as the enemy, and Occupiers are the so-called liberators. Whatever Occupiers have to do in the course of their revolution to end oppression will be justified in their minds, because the alternative is racism and murder at the hands of the police, or so the propaganda goes.

It is a deeply cynical premise that will be incredibly effective at inciting a mob.

Based upon what I saw, I think the protestors will purposefully flout the law at some point with a sit-in or street blockade, knowing that if the authorities use force in response, they will be skewered in the media. Once the message of “police brutality”  is sufficiently embedded in the public discussion surrounding Occupy, the protestors will be able engage in direct action with impunity.

Then they can really “shut this city down.”

If the people of the City of New York decide the Occupiers cannot be touched– for fear of causing a casualty like Scott Olson in Oakland– the Occupation will have won a massive psychological victory.

And if somehow the police brutality meme fails to seep deep enough into the public mind, the Occupiers will continue orchestrated face-offs until there are so many “police brutality” videos on the internet, only those paying close attention will know that it was all planned to be that way from the start.

{…}

Assuming that happens, honest citizens will be left wondering how all the ensuing chaos and violence could ever be necessary. If the Occupiers really are the 99%, why couldn’t they just vote for leaders who would reform Wall Street? Wasn’t that the whole point?

But we already know the answer. The Occupiers have said it from the beginning:

‘It’s revolution, not reform.’

Source:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/shut-this-city-down-inside-occupy-w...

II. Is the Tide Turning for OWS? ‘Local residents abandon political sympathies in favor of law and order!’-Posted on National Review Online-By CHARLES C. W. COOKE-On November 3, 2011:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/282179/tide-turning-ows-char...

III. Occupy Oakland’s Dangerous ‘Strike’: ‘A toxic mix of thugs, freeloaders, and spineless politicians!’-Posted on National Review Online-By Michelle Malkin-On November 2, 2011:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/281934/occupy-oakland-s-dang...

IV. The 'Christian socialist' clergymen praising the Occupy protests are more socialist than Christian. What about saving souls?-Posted on The Telegraph-By Tim Stanley-On November 2, 2011:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100114879/the-christia...

V. Video: OccupyBaltimore Rape Victim: Begs For Protest To Be Shut Down!-Posted on Western Journalism-On November 2, 2011:

http://www.westernjournalism.com/video-occupybaltimore-rape-victim-...

VI. Video: Michael Moore: We're Going To Replace Capitalism As We Know It!-Posted on RealClear Politics-On October 31, 2011:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/10/31/michael_moore_wer...

Note: Please support the cause to get our country back. The following website and video provides you with the specifics of how you can help:

Veteran Defenders of America’s Declaration To Restore The Constitutional Republic:

http://www.veterandefenders.org/

Video: Declaration to Restore the Republic!-Posted on YouTube.com-By arnierosnerOn October 9, 2011:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MYycZOC...

Note:  My following blog posts contain numerous articles and/or blog posts and videos that relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:

Is President Obama inciting riots across the US?

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/is-president-obama-incitin...

Is it important to understand the Marxist assault on the foundations of our system?

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/is-it-important-to-underst...

Washington Times Calls for Obama’s Impeachment!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/washington-times-calls-for...

Is it time to call for Obama's resignation!

http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/is-it-time-to-call-for-oba...

Note:  If you have a problem viewing any of the listed blog posts please copy web site and paste it on your browser. Be aware that some of the articles and/or blog posts or videos listed within the contents of the above blog post(s) may have been removed by this administration because they may have considered them to be too controversial.  Sure seems like any subject matter that may shed some negative light on this administration is being censored-What happened to free speech?-You Decide.

“Food For Thought”

God Bless the U.S.A.!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related

Semper Fi!

Jake