Occupy Protests
Hundreds of East Bay volunteers working to get President Barack Obama re-elected showed up at the campaign’s Oakland office to get marching orders during the election.
If they visit now, though, they could be taking home some stylish footwear needed to win the next race.
With President Barack Obama appearing in Oakland for the first time during his presidency, it was a given that Oakland residents — as well as protesters of all stripes — would turn up.
And the hundreds who showed up had many different messages for him.
Occupy protesters who have taken over a vacant plot of land in Albany owned by the University of California have been given a 10 a.m. Saturday deadline to disband their encampment and leave the property, university officials said Friday.
In exchange, the university said it would drop criminal prosecution it had been seeking against some of the protesters and set aside part of the land for urban agriculture.
(4/11) 13:38 PST — DAVIS, CALIF. – A University of California task force issued a blistering report Wednesday on the Nov. 18, 2011 pepper-spraying of Occupy UC Davis protesters by campus police officers, ridiculing the police department and embattled Chancellor for “unreasonable” use-of-force against students.
The task force, assembled after UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike’s pepper-spraying of peacefully protesting students garnered worldwide attention, said the incident “should have and could have been prevented.”
In another strongly worded letter addressing residents of the City of Oakland, the union representing Oakland Police officers called on Occupy Oakland protesters to leave Frank Ogawa Plaza “immediately” and with their “heads held up high.”
The union released the open letter Friday morning after a man was shot and killed in the city’s 101st homicide near the encampment Thursday evening.
City merchants, maintenance crews and Occupy Oakland protesters picked up scrub brushes and dust pans to clean up what became a violent clash between anarchists and police Wednesday morning that led to 80 arrests.
Police from several Bay Area law enforcement agencies lobbed tear gas at the anarchists after they were pelted with rocks, bottles and a homemade shield, interim Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said Thursday.
Thousands of protesters joined a general strike called by the Occupy Oakland movement Wednesday, with marches and rallies occurring in Downtown Oakland throughout the day, and an evening blockade of the Port of Oakland shutting down commerce at the freight terminal for the rest of the day.
More than 10,000 protesters filled the streets of Oakland Wednesday, marching, chanting, and demanding a better deal for ordinary people as part of a general strike called by the Occupy Oakland movement.
After marching through Downtown Oakland in the afternoon, stopping in front of branches of several large banks to protest, thousands moved toward the Port of Oakland, blocking truck traffic into and out of the area and effectively shutting one of the busiest ports on the U.S. West Coast.
The union representing Oakland Police officers released an unprecedented open letter to city residents on Tuesday criticizing Mayor Jean Quan for delivering “mixed messages” in the handling of the city’s Occupy Wall Street protests.
The message, posted on the Oakland Police Officers’ Association website, claims that rank-and-file officers are receiving no direction from the Mayor’s office about what to do during a citywide general strike set to occur on Wednesday.
Protesters who have taken over Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall are continuing a week-long occupation, settled into their tent city for a ninth day on Wednesday with no sign that they plan to end the demonstration against government, big banks and corporate America.
Three meals a day are served at a makeshift cafeteria, first aid is provided at a medical booth, and a “media center” has sprung up — providing access to the web for protesters.
