Related: Iraq War Veteran Critically Injured During #OccupyOakland Protests
At Least 500 #OccupyOakland Protesters Gather In Plaza Wednesday Night
Oakland Police Say They Didn’t Use Rubber Bullets In #OccupyOakland Dispersal, But Other Agencies Might Have
10:33 PM: During a media briefing tonight Oakland Mayor Jean Quan thanked protesters for holding a peaceful “Occupy Oakland” demonstration in front of City Hall.
Quan said she and interim police Chief Howard Jordan are willing to meet with protesters.
“We would love to have a meeting with them,” Quan said.
Jordan said six to seven injuries were reported during Tuesday night’s demonstration, including a head injury.
He said the department is investigating that incident as if it was an officer-involved shooting, though he would not disclose which agency it involved.
Local sheriff’s departments and the California Highway Patrol assisted Oakland police during Tuesday night’s demonstration.
Jordan said police had expected the removal of fences in Frank Ogawa Plaza tonight.
Quan said “If the demonstration can stay peaceful and safe,” there will be a minimal police presence.
Jordan said that police responded with force on Tuesday night because they were being pelted with rocks and bottles.
“Our officers showed a lot of restraint throughout that day,” he said.
Quan said “99 percent of the protesters were absolutely peaceful”, blaming the confrontations with police Tuesday night on a select few.
Quan said the plaza was closed because “it was a dangerous situation.”
“There are still a lot of chemicals in there and a lot of other thing,” Quan said and said needles had been found during the cleanup.
“It’s still a biohazard site,” said City Administrator Deanna Santana.
Quan and Jordan stopped short of saying protesters would be allowed to stay overnight in the plaza.
As of 9:30 p.m. few police could be seen in the area and at least one tent was pitched in Frank Ogawa Plaza.
Many of the demonstrators were heading across the Bay to join “Occupy SF” protesters who are rallying in the face of a possible eviction by police tonight.
Earlier tonight, demonstrators at the Occupy Oakland general assembly meeting at Frank Ogawa Plaza addressed the critical injury of Scott Olsen, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq, which occurred during Tuesday night’s demonstration.
Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group Olsen worked with, said Olsen was injured when he was struck by a police projectile and suffered a fractured skill.
Tuesday night, police blocked the entire plaza including surrounding streets and kept the protesters from entering using tear gas, rubber bullets and smoke grenades.
In the southeast corner of the plaza tonight, candles surrounded a picture of Olsen after he had been injured.
“The police did nothing,” a speaker at the meeting said. “The police did not have an ambulance at hand.”
Abele Carpenter, a friend of Olsen’s, said earlier today that protesters transported him to the hospital.
Protesters at tonight’s general assembly meeting also addressed how to move forward given the recent events.
“The whole world is watching Oakland,” said the speaker who opened the discussion.
The group called for a citywide strike on Nov. 2, where workers and students would leave their positions to join a march in downtown Oakland.
The announcement drew cheers from the gathered crowd.
Protesters also announced that the first planning meeting for the strike would be held Thursday at 5 p.m., prior to the general assembly at 6 p.m.
6:22 PM: Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said today that she’s “very saddened” by “Occupy Oakland” protests Tuesday night that turned violent.
Speaking at a news conference at City Hall that was packed with reporters, Quan said, “We saw some of the best of the city and some of the worst.”
Quan said most protesters and police officers behaved well but she’s asked police Chief Howard Jordan to investigate allegations that some officers used excessive force.
The mayor said officers “took a lot of abuse” from protesters and Jordan said officers fired tear gas and bean bags after “they were assaulted with bottles, rocks and hazardous materials that were thrown at them” and some people disobeyed multiple orders to disperse.
Jordan said “we regret” what he described as “an unfortunate incident” in which Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Daly City man, was critically injured when he was hit in the head with a police projectile.
According to his friends at Iraq War Veterans Against the War, Olsen is currently sedated at Highland Hospital in Oakland with a skull fracture and is waiting to be examined by a neurosurgeon.
Jordan said his department is investigating the incident as if it were a level-one incident in which an officer used lethal force against someone.
“It’s at the top of our list and we are gathering footage and investigating whether or not it was justified,” Jordan said.
Jordan said Oakland police officers didn’t use rubber bullets or wooden dowels during the protests but it’s possible that other officers from other law enforcement agencies who were assisting them might have used such devices.
Quan said Oakland banned the use of such devices after Oakland police used them in an anti-Iraq War protest in 2003 and other agencies that help the city under mutual aid agreements are supposed to abide by that policy.
But she said, “We don’t know if that happened.”
The massive demonstrations Tuesday night occurred about 12 hours after Oakland police and officers from other agencies removed protesters from the Occupy Oakland encampment that had been located in Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall since Oct. 10.
Quan said she supported the encampment because it endorses protesters’ goals of “getting some justice, some employment and a fair deal for average Americans.”
But she said she and other city leaders decided late last week that the encampment had to be removed because it was becoming unhealthy and dangerous.
Quan said the city is using chemicals to clean up the encampment, which was littered with feces and debris, but the cleanup is taking longer than expected.
City Administrator Deanna Santana said part of Frank Ogawa Plaza, which had been completely fenced off Tuesday morning, has been reopened and will remain open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
But Santana said, “We request that there be peaceful, non-violent assembly, no camping, no lodging and no fires.”
The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which is representing most of the approximately 115 protesters who were arrested Tuesday, issued a statement saying it “condemns” what it alleged were excessive uses of force and violations of the Oakland Police Department’s crowd control policy.
The lawyers’ group said the department’s “violent response to last night’s peaceful march was unjustified.”
Carlos Villarreal, the group’s executive director, said, “The National Lawyers Guild is committed to defending the demonstrators until all are released from custody and cleared of all the charges.”
Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News
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