Politics
Thousands of people marched through the streets of Oakland on Tuesday as part of Occupy Oakland’s May Day protest. Oakland North reporters were on the scene throughout the day, from the morning protests at Child Protection Services, to the nighttime clashes between protesters and police.
After an afternoon of largely peaceful protests, confrontation erupted between police and protesters in downtown Oakland after nightfall.
More than 1,000 people congregated in San Antonio Park in East Oakland on 5:30 pm Tuesday, waiting to march back to Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of City Hall as Occupy Oakland May Day protests continued into the evening.
Early this morning at the start of day-long series of marches planned for May Day, a group of more than 100 protestors gathered to protest what they call the “patriarchal capitalistic system.” The group convened on the front steps of the Child Protective Services near Jack London Square as police barricaded the entrance.
Oakland Police officers and protesters faced off in the downtown street Tuesday afternoon, as police fired tear gas canisters and using flash bang grenades to disperse protesters from the intersection of 14th Street and Broadway at about 12:15 pm today.
Early Tuesday morning Occupy Oakland activists kicked off a May Day general strike and protest to challenge what they see as a destructive capitalist system. May Day, which is often called International Workers’ Day, has a long history as being a day for unions to protest on behalf of employees.
Is Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s 100-block crime initiative working to reduce the city’s debilitating crime problem, or is it just moving city resources to one part of the city, as crime spreads to areas where there are now fewer officers?
Many of the 20,000 people from Ethiopia and Eritrea living in the Bay Area call Oakland home. Oakland North is taking a look at the culture and history of the Ethiopian or Eritrean communities in Oakland with “East Africans in Oakland” a series of profiles on everyday people living in the city.
The OUSD board voted 5-2 to deny the application of Lazear Elementary, which is slated to close after this school year, to convert to a charter school.