Amy Goodman reports on Democracy Now! "thousands of people reclaimed the Occupy Oakland encampment in front of City Hall" last night calling for a general strike on the city of Oakland. Violence inflicted on protestors by police Tuesday night resulted in Iraq War Veteran Scott Olsen being hospitalized with a fractured skull after being shot by police. The footage in this broadcast shows a projectile shot directly into the crowd of people running to the rescue of Olsen, already fallen and wounded. Goodman interviews Olsen's close friend Aaron Hinde and Jesse Palmer, the man who carried Olsen to safety.
At last night’s general assembly, the Occupy Oakland encampment voted almost unanimously to call for a general strike on November 2nd, saying, quote, "Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city. All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them," the statement said.
Also in Oakland, an independent police review body will examine the clashes between riot police and protesters Tuesday that left an Iraq war veteran in critical condition. Scott Olsen is a 24-year-old Iraq war vet. He was struck in the head by a police projectile. Video footage posted to YouTube shows a man identified as Scott Olsen lying motionless and unresponsive in front of a police line after apparently having been hit by a tear gas canister. Several protesters gather around him, but a police officer can be seen throwing a device close to the group which then explodes with a bright flash and loud bang, dispersing the protesters. The video then cuts to footage of protesters carrying Olsen away as blood streams down his face.
A spokesperson for Highland Hospital in East Oakland has confirmed that Scott Olsen remains in critical condition. He suffered from a fractured skull and brain swelling. One of Olsen’s friends, Adele Carpenter, told Reuters, "The irony is not lost on anyone here that this is someone who survived two tours in Iraq and is now seriously injured by the Oakland police force." Olsen served in Iraq from 2006 to 2010 with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.
Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told a news conference his department is investigating the injury to Olsen as a "level one" incident, the highest level for an internal police inquiry. He declined to confirm whether Olsen was struck with a projectile fired by police.
Over at the Occupy Wall Street site they are asking people to call Mayor Quan.
We are all Scott Olsen: Occupy Oakland #OWS
Posted Oct. 26, 2011, 8:53 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Late last night, Scott Olsen, a former Marine, two-time Iraq war veteran, and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, sustained a skull fracture after being shot in the head with a police projectile while peacefully participating in an Occupy Oakland march. He remains unconscious in critical condition at Oakland’s Highland Hospital.
Olsen was hit at close range. After demonstrators rush to Olsen’s aid, an Oakland cop waits a few beats before lobbing a second tear-gas canister at the crowd. They are attending to Olsen when the canister explodes, sending smoke everywhere.
Press release from Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Our hearts and prayers go out to Scott and his family.
PLEASE SHARE THIS VIDEO AND TAKE ACTION!
Call Mayor Quan’s office and demand that she investigate this incident and allow peaceful protests to continue: (510) 238-3141
amy is reporting (in the blockquote above)
Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan told a news conference his department is investigating the injury to Olsen as a “level one” incident, the highest level for an internal police inquiry.
maybe the police shouldn’t be investigating themselves tho.
If you can get through to Mayor Quan’s phone, more power to you – no one I know has been able to since the raid.
But everyone should go to her Facebook page and leave a comment on her statement yesterday defending and thanking the cops, etc. As of now there are 11,754 comments, and though I certainly haven’t read them all, I have yet to see one supporting her, and most of them are exquisitely scathing.
There’d be outrage over this incident no matter who was mayor, but there’s a special edge to it because of who Jean Quan is. For those who aren’t from the Bay Area: she was a prominent activist in the Third World Liberation Front at UC Berkeley in the late 60s. She went on to be a member of some small left collective, and then a union organizer, then a progressive member of the Oakland school board. Her M.D. husband is a big single-payer activist, her Deputy Mayor for Community Relations was previously head of the Alameda County Labor Council, and her buddy and top adviser is Dan Siegel, longtime activist and lawyer in many cases attempting to rein in the Oakland cops. She got elected mayor because Oakland’s ranked-choice voting system in effect pooled the votes of several progressive candidates, enabling her to squeak past the establishment Dem candidate.
In other words, we expected better!
First, lets hope that brother Scott Olsen has a safe recovery.
Second, YES!!!
Boycott, Divest, Sanction and STRIKE!!!
Wondering if these are the same tear gas cannisters sold to Israel to throw at Palestinians
I can almost guarantee it. MW has had posts ( and I believe pictures) of “made in america” stamps on tear gas cannisters used by Israeli’s
link to less-lethal.com
the Company is called Combined Systems Inc…..a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group.
they sell to domestic law enforcement and a host of foreign countries
i would almost guarantee they made the cannister that hit Olsen
link to wkbn.com
link to gaza.net
Per Max Blumenthal:
The police repression on display in Oakland reminded me of tactics I witnessed the Israeli army employ against Palestinian popular struggle demonstrations in occupied West Bank villages like Nabi Saleh, Ni’lin and Bilin. So I was not surprised when I learned that the same company that supplies the Israeli army with teargas rounds and other weapons of mass suppression is selling its dangerous wares to the Oakland police. The company is Defense Technology, a Casper, Wyoming based arms firm that claims to “specialize in less lethal technology” and other “crowd management products.” Defense Tech sells everything from rubber-coated teargas rounds that bounce in order to maximize gas dispersal to 40 millimeter “direct impact” sponge rounds to “specialty impact” 12 gauge rubber bullets.
link to english.al-akhbar.com
Just what I was wondering. Tristan Anderson’s skull was fractured and Emily Honochowicz lost her eye when they were hit by such tear gas canisters.
And God knows how many Palestinians, just for demonstrating!
Wouldn’t be surprising. They also have their rubber bullets. Probably that stink stuff too. We have adopted all of Israel’s insane ‘security’ policies like excessive retaliation, torture, assassination, airport behavior monitoring (and all that other TSA crap), domestic spying on citizens, state-sponsored terrorism, etc.
The NYPD trained in Israel, ADL trained police domestically. The UK police are corrupt and paid off by Rupert Murdoch. Probably the same here, that’s why I’m sad that Murdoch/911 phone ‘hacking’ thing sort of just died without a follow-up.
There are good cops, it’s just this riot-control variety we should be concerned about. They have likely been corrupted by a third party and serve as a personal army to the criminal international banking cabal. Some of them are probably just dressed like cops and not even real cops.
Seeing people carrying a seriously wounded Scott Olsen reminded me of a similar scene from 1970 Poland.
In December 1970 ,workers from Gdansk and Gdynia’s Shipyard went on strike. The communistic power did not to hesitate to use police and soldiers with tanks and live ammunition against them.
One of the first victims was a young man ,Janek Wisniewski.
The history repeats itself. Only victims are different, only oppressors are different. But blood, tears, fear, determination, feeling of anger and helplessness against the raw power is the same.
link to youtube.com
link to youtube.com
scott olsen’s comrades in afghanistan could add to oakland’s general strike on november the 2nd
by working out a truce with the taliban
as on that famous christmas day truce between allied and german troops during ww i, where the two sides even competed in a game of soccer
arranged, i might add, by the troops themselves
so if the troops want to get home asap
and if a century ago warring troops made their own truce
why not foday warring troops broker a just and peaceful outcome?
nothing to lose
lots and lots to gain
recall that post-wwi germany went through a revolution in which the left, while defeated, fought like hell for what they believed in
suffered many martyrs
even more injuries
as for what’s happened to greg olsen
what greater tribute
than the movement that is in debt to him for the inspiration that is the story of his life, the warrior transforming himself into a peacemaker
commiting itself to the pursuit & realization of a just and peaceful world
so that we suffer no more casualties, nowhere, never, not even one
and that his sacrifice will not have been in vain
leaderless, yet everyone a leader
surely a wonder for the ages
What has happened to Scott Olsen sends a clear message to those soldiers who are about to return from Iraq. The police and politicians have a right to shake in their boots when they consider how many returning soldiers will feel compelled to participate in the war at home.
PETITION – NPR: Reinstate “World of Opera” and its host, Lisa Simeone
National Public Radio has ceased distribution of the classical music show “World of Opera” because its host, Lisa Simeone, helped organize the the ‘Occupy DC Protest’.
TO SIGN - link to change.org
ALSO SEE: NPR’s Slow Slide to the Right, by Richard Schiffman, CommonDreams.org, 10/25/11
ENTIRE COMMENTARY – link to commondreams.org
I save this from TomDispatch report.
“At the Occupy Wall Street campgrounds in lower Manhattan, you can find just about anything.
Like the sign held by a Marine vet wearing a “Don’t Tread on Me” t-shirt
and military pants:…. “2nd time I’ve fought for my country, 1st time I’ve
known my enemy.”
Yep first time he knows his enemy. Wish they all knew their enemy.
I haven’t been able to find acting chief Jordon’s name on a JINSA list or the former chief’s, Wayne Tucker. But even if they didn’t go to Israel for LEEP training I would bet they attended one of the hundreds of JINSA training conferences JINSA holds thru out the US for Police Training.
I doubt JINSA would overlook an area like SF.
link to jinsa.org
Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP)
Participants in the JINSA Israel Program for Law Enforcement Executives (2004-2009)
Chief Art Acevedo – Chief of Police, Austin Police Department, TX
Sheriff Kevin Beary – Orange County, FL
Deputy Chief Michael Berkow – Los Angeles Police Department, CA
Chief William Blair – Chief of Police, Toronto Police Department, Canada
Chief Joseph C. Bober – New Jersey Transit Police Department
Robert “Duke” Bodisch – Deputy Director, Office of Homeland Security, Office of the Governor, TX
Sheriff Michael Bouchard – Oakland County, MI
Chief of Operations Michael Braun – U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Washington, DC
Sheriff Bob Brooks – Ventura County, CA
Chief Jim Bueermann – City of Redlands Police Department, CA
Inspector (Colonel) James Burke – Suffolk County Police Department, NY
Thomas Cameron – Criminal Justice Bureau Chief, Office of the Attorney General, MI
Chief Mike Carroll – Chief of Police, West Goshen Township Police, PA; Second Vice President,
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)
Chief Joseph Carter – Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; President, IACP
Assistant Director Richard Chase – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF),
U.S. Department of Justice
Chief Joseph Chronister – Chief of Police, North Las Vegas Police Department, NV
Chief William Citty – Oklahoma City Police Department, OK
Director John F. Clark – U.S. Marshals Service, Washington, DC
Major Rod Covington – Executive Services Detail, New York State Police, NY
Chief Charles Deane – Prince William County Police Department, VA
Director Stephen Diaczyszyn – Hazardous Devices, Operations Center, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Chief Deputy Jose Docobo – Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department, FL
Director Tom Driessen – National Crime Squad, Dutch Police, Netherlands; International Vice
President, IACP
Deputy Chief Victor Dunn – North Las Vegas Police Department, NV
Assistant Director Robert Finan II – U.S. Marshals Service
Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald – Story County, IA; incoming national officer, Major County Sheriffs’ Association
Superintendent Richard Fuentes – New Jersey State Police
Sheriff Patrick Gallivan – Erie County, NY
Corporal David Gnoth – South Bend Police Department, IN, NBSCAB
Assistant Sheriff William Gore – San Diego Sheriff’s Department, CA
Deputy Chief Prioleau Green – Cleveland Police Department, OH
Sheriff Mark Hackel – McComb County, MI
Detective Sergeant Jim Hansen – Seattle Police Department, WA, President, NBSCAB
Chief Michael Heimbach – International Operations Section, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Assistant Secretary Tracy A. Henke – Office of Grants and Training, Department of Homeland
Security
Superintendent Col. Timothy Hutchins – Maryland State Police
Assistant Sheriff Rod Jett – Las Vegas Sheriff’s Department, NV
Assistant Deputy Superintendent Bart R. Johnson – Office of Counter-Terrorism, New York State Police
Chief Sylvester Johnson – Philadelphia Police Department, PA
Chief Barnett Jones – Ann Arbor Police Department, MI
Corporal Darrel Kandil – Hillsborough City Sheriff’s Office, Tampa, FL, NBSCAB
Assistant Administrator James M. Kasson – Chief Inspector, Drug Enforcement Agency, Washington, DC
Lieutenant Kevin Kazmaier – Mesa Arizona Police Department, NBSCAB
Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske – Seattle Police Department, WA
Chief David M. Kunkle – Dallas Police Department, TX
Chief Russ Laine – Algonquin Police Department, IL; 3rd Vice President, IACP
Chief Cathy Lanier – Metropolitan DC Police Department
Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP)
Participants in the JINSA Israel Program for Law Enforcement Executives (2004-2009)
Sergeant David Marker – Denver Police Department, CO, NBSCAB
Deputy Chief Ronald Masciana – Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police, NY
Deputy Chief Greg McCurdy – Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, NV
Deputy Administrator Michelle Leonhart – Drug EnforcementAdministration, U.S. Department of Justice
Director James W. McMahon – Department of Homeland Security, NY
Chief Carlos Maldonado – New Mexico State Police Department
Chief Tom Manger – Montgomery County Police Department, MD
Chief Gary Margolis – Chief of Police, University of Vermont Police Services; Commissioner, Commission
on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies; Chair, IACP Distance Learning Committee
Chief Mark Marshall – Chief of Police, Smithfield, VA; Third Vice President, IACP
Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael A. Mason – Washington Field Office, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice
Sheriff Patrick McGowan – Hennepin County, MN
Chief William McSweeney – Chief of Homeland Security Division, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, CA
Sheriff Michael McLaughlin – Camden County Sheriff’s Department, NJ
Chief Robert McNeilly – Pittsburgh Police Department, PA
Superintendent Jeffrey Miller – Pennsylvania State Police
Bureau Chief John Miller – Los Angeles Police Department’s Critical Incident Management Bureau, CA
Chief Joseph J. Mokwa – Chief of Police, St. Louis Police Department, MO
William A. Morange – Director of Security & Deputy Executive Director, Metropolitan Transit
Authority, NY
Director Kenneth Morckel – Ohio Department of Public Safety
Chief Joseph Morris – former Police Chief, Port Authority of NY/NJ
Chief Greg Mullen – Chief of Police, Charleston Police Department, SC
Commissioner Lawrence W. Mulvey – Nassau County Police Department, Long Island, NY
Chief Sterling Owen, IV – Knoxville Police Department, KY
Sheriff Paul A. Pastor – Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, Tacoma, WA
Mr. Charlie Payne – Chief, Office for Bombing Prevention, Department of Homeland Security
Sheriff Jim Pendergraph – Mecklenburg County, NC [encompassing Charlotte]
Chief Anthony Placido – Intelligence Department, Drug Enforcement Agency
Chief Joseph Polisar – Garden Grove, California Police Department; former President, IACP
Lieutenant Richard Puschel – Union County Police Department, NJ, NBSCAB
Chief of Detectives Kenneth Rau – Suffolk County Police Department, NY
Sergeant Clayton Roberts – Lexington Police Department, KY, NBSCAB
Commissioner Ron Ruecker – Oregon State Police Department; 1st Vice President, IACP
Inspector Scott Sheppard – Officer-in-Charge, Explosives Disposal and Technology Section, Royal
Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
Sheriff Laurie Smith – Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, CA
First Deputy Superintendent Dana Starks – Chicago Police Department, IL
Lieutenant Shawn Stallworth – Michigan State Police, NBSCAB
Chief Darrel Stephens – Charlotte/Mecklenburg Police Department, NC
Chief Dennis Storemski – Director for Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security, Houston, TX
Deputy Chief Larry Thompson – Chief of Uniformed Services, United States Capitol Police
Director George Togliatti – Nevada Department of Public Safety
Chief of Police Christopher Trucillo – Port Authority of NY/NJ
Chief Maryanne Viverette – Gaithersburg, Police Department, MD; former President, IACP
Sergeant Robert Von Loewenfeldt – Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, GA
Director Jim Walker – Alabama Department of Homeland Security
Assistant Sheriff Earl Wentworth – Cdr. Counterterrorism Division, San Diego Sheriff’s Department, CA
Detective Ursula Wiebusch – Hartford Police Department, CT, NBSCAB
Sheriff Jeff Wiley – Ascension Parish, LA
Lieutenant David Woosley – Chattanooga Police Department, TN, NBSCAB
Then click on this link to JINSA and go to the bottom of the article and see two other clickable links to testimonies of Police who have been. Read those and you will see how people who aren’t exactly good at making judgements in an emergency, which most police aren’t, are brainwashed with Israeli tactics and sob stories into adopting the attitude, which most already have to some degree, that everyone is suspicious and about to kill them at any moment. That is what the Israeli training puts into their minds….that protestors or anyone really, in the US has to be regarded as and treated like Israel treats Palestine terrorist. With total suspicion and shoot first and ask later.
link to jinsa.org
I have one thing personal to say…they better get their creeping Israeli slime out of my country, or it’s gonna be BATFTTG.
OCCUPY JINSA.
I got a call last night from a friend at Occupy San Francisco around 230am. He said rumors had been circulating all night that there would be a raid at the campsite down in front of the Ferry building. I went down there right away.
The crowd had swelled (usually it isn’t as big in the middle of the night) and we were practicing techniques to protect the campsite, e.g., formations and non-violent resistance techniques. I left around 530, after the fear had dissipated and we were confident the camp would be fine. There were representatives from Occupy Oakland who announced the plan for a general strike, and everyone agreed it was a great idea. There will also be walkouts at UC Berkeley (Nov 9th) and SF State University (Nov 15th). Students at City College of San Francisco have set up a donation table to gather supplies for Occupy SF. And I’m currently trying to organize some solidarity efforts on behalf of CCSF Students for Justice in Palestine.
Well, I think the Oakland Police just managed to light the powderkeg.
I just hope the Occupy _____ protestors won’t mention Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
If they do, oracle clenchzoid would have to start his I’m-a-refusnik-trust-me schtick all over again.
you’re on a roll today avi.
This is why commenters like newclench are so afraid of the Occupy ______ movement and the inclusion of Palestinian rights (vis-a-vis US foreign policy toward Israel).
Their fear is that police attacks on protestors will make it so thousands, if not millions, of Americans will suddenly identify with Palestinians for they will experience what it is like to be in their shoes.
The mock checkpoints and separation walls erected across US college campuses in recent years could not accomplish what the OWS movement can. Giving the Palestine issue a platform within the OWS movement, coupled with the movement’s identification with the Arab Spring threatens the Israel Lobby’s narrative.
That the average American is convinced by the rhetoric that suggests the Occupy _____ movement would lose on a large scale in the event it adopted the Palestine issue, is not surprising. This won’t be the first time the Israel lobby feigned concern for the interests of the average American, — a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
After all, to the unseasoned veteran, much like Obama’s rhetoric during the last election season, clenchy’s rhetoric aims to get his shctick ‘elected’.
How many will fall for that deception? Unfortunately, some of the American commenters here are too easy to convince with a smile and cute speech. Obama. His rhetoric made complete sense on 11/3/2008.
This is very encouraging. This is real civil disobedience, not a bunch of meek pacifists marching willingly into caged “free-speech” zones provided by the police. Reclaiming the park involved tearing down a chain link fence that the city had erected in the previous 24 hours. The night before these people were not going limp in the face of arrest but running and avoiding capture and then reassembling again to challenge police control of the streets. And they won. No police at the park last night.
link to readersupportednews.org
Quan has backed down…..is groveling. Now praising the OWS protestors.
Commenters are saying so what…too little too late.
I believe Quan was out of town. Very little attention being given to the woman who actually ordered the Oakland Police to attack the unarmed
Who was she Kathleen, do you know?
my sources tell me the “Occupy” movement is getting smarter and will go with the name the 99% in future and drop the occupy moniker – better and more inclusive
people will say “remember Oakland” in the future – it is the Stonewall of the 99% movement … and anyone who reads and has an awareness of the world absolutely makes the connection between rubber bullets and/or teargas canister fired at the head of a non-violent protester here in America and in israel