US Feature: More than 100 Arrested in Clashes at "Occupy Oakland" (Gafni/De Benedetti)

Photo: Jane Tyska (Oakland Tribune)

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Occupy Oakland protesters broke into City Hall, stole an American flag from the City Council chamber and set it on fire Saturday night, punctuating a wild day in which police deployed tear gas, arrested more than 200 marchers and dodged hurling objects.

Demonstrators spent the day trying to break into a convention center and temporarily occupying City Hall and a YMCA, all the while snaking around lines of riot-clad police periodically shooting bean bag projectiles, among other uses of nonlethal force.

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond) Video: How Police in Oakland Said "Happy Thanksgiving"

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Police clashed with protesters in Oakland, California on Thursday, reportedly after an officer told a driver delivering portable toilets to Frank H. Ogawa Plaza to leave because he did not have the proper permit.

Occupy Oakland soon released, "Video of OPD tackling ppl today over a couple of Port-a-Potties. Seriously."

The footage shows a protester wrestled to the ground, as others were handcuffed. At least one arrest was reported.

Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Occupy Oakland March Through City and Port (Wollan)

Watch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com

LiveStream from Occupy Oakland

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UPDATE 0945 GMT: It appears that the situation is now a stand-off as police do not show an inclination to move --- at this time --- on the protesters' central location in the plaza in Oakland.

UPDATE 0815 GMT: Gary Aronsen of Mother Jones: "Loud bangs. People retreat from the plaza as some break windows of City Hall. Vandalism all over. People are pissed about it but can't stop it."

Joshua Holland of AlterNet: "At least five loud explosions."

It appears police have advanced about two blocks, pushing back demonstrators.

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Occupy Wall Street to Occupy Oakland (& Beyond): The Week in the US Protests

Wednesday's General Strike in Oakland, and in the other cities that decide to join  --- Portland is not, for the moment, citing the difficulties of organising an effective protest in such a short space of time ---  could make the headlines for this week. But, as a cursory look at the Occupy protests last week throughout the US shows, it could be a different story, a different theme, in any of the hundred cities involved in this challenge to supposed corporate greed.

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Occupy Wall Street (& Beyond): LiveStream from Clashes at Occupy Oakland

UPDATE 1537 GMT: A slightly different view of the incident. The video starts with a police officer, via megaphone or sound system, telling the protesters that if they do not disperse they will be arrested. One could ask why that is necessarily? The protesters appear to be in a penned-off street, with the police on the other side of the barricades.

After a few seconds, the tear gas is fired, along with flash grenades. A few protesters appear to hold their ground. Towards the front of the pack, on the right hand side, a man who may already be leaving, is apparently hit my a flash grenade, or shrapnel of some kind, and falls backwards, in the direction that the majority of the crowd is moving. When protesters notice that he is injured, they move forward to help, or remove him, and a police officer, who first aims a weapon (tear gas gun?) at the crowd, throws at least 1 flash grenade into the crowd:

UPDATE 1507 GMT: This narrated video appears to show a police officer throwing a flash grenade into a crowd of people in Oakland as they try to help a wounded protester. While the video starts after the tear gas has been fired, and after the protester was initially wounded, it is clear that the crowd was helping the protester, and did not pose an immediate threat to the wall of police standing nearby:

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