Occupy Oakland
Over the past month, protesters in hundreds of camps around the country have rolled out sleeping bags, set up food tents and trucked portable toilets into public spaces. Across the country, the reactions of city officials dealing with Occupy camps have ranged from supportive to baffled to downright angry.
Even if you set aside the tear gas and broken windows, it’s hard to keep things clean when thousands of people are gathered in one place. The city says that things have gotten so dirty it’s a danger to the neighborhood, but some of Oakland’s occupiers are working hard to clean up their act.
On Occupy Oakland’s one-month anniversary, a man was shot and killed on the outskirts of the encampment Thursday afternoon. Witnesses at the scene said the victim was shot at around 5 pm, following an altercation with a small group of African American men that erupted near the portable toilets on the northeast side of the encampment.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan released a statement on Thursday night regarding the shooting of a young man near the Occupy Oakland encampment earlier that evening. The statement is reprinted here in its entirety:
Oakland Police Department spokesperson Johnna Watson released this statement at 5:30 pm: “On November 10, 2011 at 4:57 PM, the Oakland Police Department responded to the 1400 block of Broadway on a report of a shooting.
Amid rumors circulating of a police raid later that night, several hundred people packed the steps and floor of Frank Ogawa Plaza on Wednesday evening for an Occupy Oakland General Assembly meeting, at which protesters voted to march in solidarity with Egyptian activists this Saturday and considered whether to endorse or disavow violent “black bloc” tactics.
The Community Rejuvenation Project (CRP), a nonprofit best known for large mural projects throughout Oakland, released a declaration on Tuesday decrying property destruction during last Wednesday’s general strike.
The OPD has denied 12 requests by the ACLU to release public documents from the October 25 raid of the Occupy Oakland encampment, and the protests in downtown Oakland that night, citing an open investigation.
Every village needs a church—or perhaps a non-denominational interfaith tent—to fill the spiritual needs of its inhabitants, and according to a recently formed group of Bay Area clergy, the Occupy Oakland encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza is no different.