Police Break Out the Bad in Berkeley

Protests against police brutality have turned violent in Berkeley, California, as officers are resorting to rubber bullets, flash bang grenades and tear gas in a tense standoff with demonstrators demanding justice.

  RT

Berkeley, of course, was the scene of tumultous protests against the Viet Nam war.  In the last few decades the police brutality and riotous protests have been across the bay in Oakland. I am truly surprised we aren’t seeing reports of police violence there, because there have indeed been protests that included property vandalism and arrests.  Yesterday, they shut down West Oakland BART station.

The protesters took to the streets to express their anger over a series of high-profile incidences involving the death of black Americans at the hands of white police officers - all of whom were cleared of any wrongdoing by the courts.

According to police, some of the protesters took to more violent methods of expression.

[...]

Police then moved on unmasked protesters at a busy intersection, commanding them to move away. When their orders went unheeded, the police tossed tear gas canisters into the crowd, with some of the protesters hurling the tear gas back at the police.

[...]

Protests have erupted across the country in Philadelphia, Chicago, Las Vegas[, Detroit] and dozens of other cities. In New York, where a fourth consecutive day of rallies took place, several dozen people participated in a mock “die-in” at Grand Central Station, as well as conducting protests inside shops on Times Square. There were no reports of arrests.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, several hundred people assembled at police headquarters Saturday, which resulted in a small group of protesters hurling rocks at police. Seven of the protesters were arrested.

In Portland, Oregon, a throng of peaceful yet passionate protesters entered the Justice Center building, shouting “Justice,” before moving to a shopping mall, where the chant turned to “Don’t shoot” and “Black lives matter.”

And in France...

PARIS (RNN/CNN) - Protesters in Paris took to the Trocadero across the Seine River from the Eiffel Tower on Saturday to protest police brutality in the U.S.

The demonstration was in response to recent cases in which white police officers were absolved in the deaths of two unarmed black men.

[...]

French teen Edouard Brofman watched and filmed video of the demonstration.

Brofman said he saw people from all over the world protesting and holding signs in support of the victims.

  WNEM

A Study of Protests and Police Response

[R]esearchers at UC Berkeley [...] studied clashes between police and activists during the Occupy movement three years ago, found that protests tend to turn violent when officers use aggressive tactics, such as approaching demonstrators in riot gear or lining up in military-like formations.

Recent events in Ferguson, Mo., are a good example, the study's lead researcher said.

[...]

"Everything starts to turn bad when you see a police officer come out of an SUV and he's carrying an AR-15," said Nick Adams, a sociologist and fellow at UC Berkeley's Institute for Data Science who leads the Deciding Force Project. "It just upsets the crowd."

  SFGate

I can’t imagine why.

But finding the appropriate balance between being too aggressive and not aggressive enough hasn't been easy.

[...]

This week's protests in Oakland, to show solidarity with Ferguson activists, have been peaceful. Officers have restricted where marches can take place but have kept their distance.

Oakland police officials declined to be interviewed for this story.

[...]

In San Francisco, officials say they try to use force sparingly.

"We don't use tear gas. We don't use rubber bullets or dowels in crowd control," said police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza. "San Francisco is a professional protest city. We have protests here all the time. Our department is well versed in facilitating First Amendment rights."

[...]

During the Occupy protests [...] police in some cities deployed officers in small clusters rather than in skirmish lines. Such cities tended to see fewer clashes between demonstrators and police, the researchers said.

But, ask the Ferguson police chief – that’s no “show of force.”

Adams' team is still evaluating its findings and is incorporating other factors to determine whether they influence crowd behavior, including city rules for holding protests, an area's political makeup and local demographics. They expect to publish their findings by the end of the year.

Block the Boat

Thousands of protesters successfully blocked a commercial Israeli cargo vessel from docking and unloading goods in Oakland, California, late Saturday. The protest was staged in response to a call from Palestinian and South African unions to hold Israel accountable for what they allege are violations of Palestinians’ human rights — particularly during Israel’s latest offensive in the Gaza Strip, an operation that killed more than 1,900 Palestinians.

Saturday’s event, which drew between 3,000 to 5,000 protesters, was part of a series of actions planned by U.S. and Canadian activists across North America’s west coast.

  alJazeera

Occupy Oakland Settlement

Remember the young veteran who was fired on by police during an Occupy Okland event?

A United States military veteran who was critically injured by the police during an Occupy Wall Street protest in October 2011 will be awarded $4.5 million by the city of Oakland, California

[...]

Olsen was with around 1,000 other demonstrators that evening who had decided to protest the local police department’s recent clearing of Occupy activists from an encampment they established in a city park. During a march through downtown, Olsen was hit in the head with a non-lethal projectile fired by an unknown police officer and quickly admitted to an area hospital in critical condition where he was diagnosed with a fractured skull, broken neck vertebrae and swelling of the brain.

The marine served two tours in Iraq between 2006 and 2010, and then joined the group Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was employed as a systems administrator in the San Francisco Bay area at the time of the 2011 protest.

[...]

One of Olsen’s attorneys, Jim Chanin, told the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday that it’s "a very sad day, not only for Scott, who's going to have to start his life all over, but for the city of Oakland, which has been hit with yet another unnecessary lawsuit with a very large settlement that could have been used for the public good while Scott went on with his life, without his injury."

Speaking to Democracy Now! this week, Olsen said, “It has been a very stressful experience having to deal with it. So, for that reason alone, I’m happy that it’s over.”

  RT

Occupy Oakland Settlement

Victims of excessive police force at one of the most violent flashpoints of the Occupy protests have received a [total] $1m compensation settlement.

The US district court in San Francisco made the award to a group of 12 protesters who complained of brutality during in confrontations with police in Oakland, California, in 2011.

The payouts come in the wake of criticism from independent experts who said the police department was under-resourced and ill-prepared to deal with the protests.

  Guardian

Ill-prepared. Indeed.

Meanwhile in Occupied Oakland

Police have fired tear gas and flash grenades while arresting more than 300 people as anti-Wall Street protesters tried but failed to take over downtown buildings, including the city hall, in Oakland, California.

Protesters from Occupy Oakland - the local offshoot of Occupy Wall Street - first targeted the empty Henry J Kaiser convention center on Saturday, before trying to take over the city hall, but were forcibly removed from each area by police.

  alJazeera

UK Guardian images

Scott Olsen Update

“Occupy Oakland” sentimental figure Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran badly injured by a police tear gas canister in late October, appeared on Countdown Friday evening to discuss his improved health.

[...]

Olsen vowed once again that he would rejoin the protests the minute his health improved enough for him to do so. And he described to Olbermann the reason why he joined “Occupy Oakland” in the first place.

“The community involved and the diversity of opinions,” he said. “Everybody you talk to there is going to have a different opinion, and you can always learn something new by talking to someone else.”

  Raw Story

Now why would you want to do that?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Like many of his fellow Marines, looks like he'll have a battle scar to remind him of his service to America.

Occupy Ratcheting Up

In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation:

[...]

Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.

Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT.

[...]

In the event of police repression of any of the mobilizations, shutdown actions may be extended to multiple days.

  Occupy Wall Street

Now they will be labeled terrorists. They will be given no quarter by the authorities. And few will defend them. This will be bloody.

There comes a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, the people who own it, that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all.

--Mario Savio – Free Speech Movement, Berkeley, CA 1964