"Letter From A Friend: The Morning After the Attack on the Oakland Occupiers"

[sabrina 1]

Oakland was among several occupied cities to be attacked in an almost military style operation last night.

In Baltimore, also attacked last night, protesters noticed four men who, they believed, were Federal Agents. They followed them at a distance and saw them enter the Federal Building:

Liveblogging Occupy Wall Street

Re Baltimore, MD:

BaltoSpectator Baltimore Spectator
by OccupyBaltimore
2 hrs
Several members of #OccupyBaltimore quitely followed the 4 men at a distance after they left.All entered the federal building using keycards
9:41 PM Oct 25th

Baltimore Spectator
BaltoSpectator Baltimore Spectator
by OccupyBaltimore
2 hrs
Folks telling of the 4 federal agents in jeans & t-shirts attempted to infiltrate group tonight…

It is heart-breaking to see such violence by Civilian Police against peaceful, unarmed protesters among whom, witnesses say, were children, elderly and disabled people.

The following letter is one blogger's feelings after receiving a letter from a friend who was there:



Letter from an Anonymous Friend: The Morning After the Attack on the Oakland Commune

Letter from an Anonymous Friend: The Morning After the Attack on the Oakland Commune

We knew that it would happen.

If you live with others in a public space in a city, if you set up shelters in which people can live without owning or renting property, if you set up an outdoor kitchen with which to feed anyone who wants food, if you establish a free school at which anyone can read and learn, if you set up bathroom facilities provided by organizations supporting your activities, if you show solidarity with struggles against police killings and police violence against people of color, against the poor, against women, against queers and transpeople, if you state your determination to defend the space you have created against the threat of eviction, in short—if you work toward organizing ways of living and relating to one another that might challenge those mandated by capitalism, your efforts will eventually be crushed by the police.

We know this because we know that the question is not whether the police are “part of the 99%,” on the basis of their salary. What is called the 99% is ruptured by many divisions. Among these is the dividing line that runs between those who want to change the world and those who uphold the status quo, between those who work to undermine the brutal order of property and those who work to enforce it. For those who transform the world by challenging capitalist economic and social relations, working to displace and overturn them, the police are one among many enemies. We know it is their job to destroy what we create, and it is no surprise when they do that.

At 4:30 am on October 25, Occupy Oakland was raided by more than 500 police from multiple counties. From a comrade who was there:

At the time of this writing I am filled with rage. Occupy Oakland, on its second week, was raided by an overwhelming force of approximately 800 police in riot gear. I was there, ready to defend when police from all entrances to Oscar Grant Plaza rushed in with sticks and began beating people. Their tactics were simple but effective: rush in with overwhelming numbers and push out those that intended to stay for a fight, slowly crush resilience of those who took up the tactic of civil disobedience by linking arms and protecting the camp. They beat people with sticks, shot people with rubber bullets, obliterated ear-drums with flash-bang grenades, and choked them with tear gas.

What wrenches on these mornings (so many, for so many of us), what presses out on our temples, constricts our chests, fills our throats so that it can’t be properly spoken is a contradiction: we knew that this would happen; we can’t accept that it has happened. We know, insofar as we struggle, that our struggle will be repressed. But no amount of knowing can fortify against the sickness that we feel every time an army of cops rolls in to brutalize and arrest our friends and comrades.

All the tents are down, pots are strewn everywhere, the library scattered, the garden stomped, the Commune is in ruins. “Though it fed thousands for free and welcomed the city’s desperately poor homeless population, this public park can hopefully now return to its natural state of being completely empty.” Dozens of smug assholes and their batons surround the emptiness they prefer to the fragile possibilities that were created, getting paid overtime to chat across their barricades with idiots who think the cops are on the same side as those they just attacked and threw in jail, while others hurl insults against dead ears.

MORE It's worth reading the whole post.

They are the dishonorable tools of the brutal destroyers of all that is good in this world who know only one way to get what they want, violence.

They intend to crush this movement, that is clear.

http://twitpic.com/73djoh



Protester says he was hit with tear gas cannister

More photos of injuries to protesters

http://twitpic.com/75wrpb



Police denied using rubber bullets. Protesters find proof they lied!



A close-up of another CS grenade, and what looks like the remnants of a flash bang. #OccupyOakland

They hurt people last night, deliberately. Several people were injured, and according to twitter, one was critically injured and taken to the hospital.

Occupy Oakland Encampment trashed by City, Police


The Occupiers were providing free medical care to those who needed it and who are not getting it from the City. That officer should ask himself why he is following orders to destroy something like that?


How long before they use those weapons on civilians I wonder?



Land of the Free

A message from Egypt

Tahrir Square protesters send message of solidarity to Occupy Wall Street

A message of solidarity issued by a collective of Cairo-based campaigners declared: "We are now in many ways involved in the same struggle," adding: "What most pundits call 'The Arab Spring' has its roots in the demonstrations, riots, strikes and occupations taking place all around the world."

Critics of the Occupy movement have dismissed suggestions that they share many similarities with protests in the Middle East, arguing that the latter have been about liberation from tyranny while the former are focused on economic reform. But the solidarity statement explicitly rejects that division, claiming that the Egyptian struggle is against "systems of repression, disenfranchisement and the unchecked ravages of global capitalism" and highlighting the social and economic damage caused by the implementation of neoliberal free market policies under the Mubarak regime.

"As the interests of government increasingly cater to the interests and comforts of private, transnational capital, our cities and homes have become progressively more abstract and violent places, subject to the casual ravages of the next economic development or urban renewal scheme," reads the statement. "An entire generation across the globe has grown up realizing, rationally and emotionally, that we have no future in the current order of things."

When Mubarak unleashed his brutal police force on the protesters killing several of them, it only increased the numbers who came out. I remember how many of them described how they felt when asked if they were afraid. They said that they were no longer afraid. That a 'wall of fear has been broken'. Over 800 protesters died during those 18 days. Mubarak is now on trial for those crimes.

Our Elected Officials should learn from Tunisia and Egypt. Peaceful protesters can, without guns or clubs or weapons of any kind overcome powerful forces IF they have the support of a majority of the people. The OccupyWallStreet Movement is more popular, according to polls, than both Political Parties put together. And each time the Authorities abuse the protesters, they become even more popular.

Our government attacked peaceful citizens in Atlanta, Baltimore, San Francisco and Oakland last. Oakland arrestees are being held on $10,000 bail until Thursday. 175 are the last reports I saw of Oakland arrests, but that may not be accurate.

It is reported that The Brooklyn Bridge Arrestees' attorneys were offered a deal to drop all charges against the hundreds who were arrested on the Bridge. They are considering turning it down and demanding jury trials for the hundreds who were arrested.

Five of the Brooklyn Bridge arrestees have already filed lawsuits against the Mayor, the City and the NYPD.

These elected officials are creating a dangerous environment for citizens and costing the tax-payers a fortune they cannot afford. But all it will get for them is an even bigger movement.

Edited to add this video http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/18100259#utm_campaign=synclickback&source=http://ows.bylinebeat.com/post/11933577103/video-occupyoakland-live-steam&medium=18100259

It was recorded by one of the protesters during the attacks. His job was to get the helmet numbers of the cops. It's about one hour long. He was tear-gassed half-way through but kept on reporting and taking down numbers.

He said about three or four minutes into the video that the cops were using something called 'sound cannon'. He said that was developed fo use by the military and is not supposed to be used by cops.

He also witnessed them throwing a journalist to the ground. You can hear people screaming, sounds like a woman or child. Very good reporting by him.

They had choppers in the air also he says.

[Odin2005]

1. Blood has been shed. There is no turning back, now.

[sabrina 1]

5. They were indiscriminate. There was a lot of media there

but, and I've added this to the OP, in a video with commentary by one of the protesters, he said they threw one journalist to the ground. Also, they tear-gassed members of the press.

You are right, this will only get worse for them. People are determined not to react angrily as that is what they want, but it's hard right now.

[madrchsod]

16. martin luther king on non violence

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1426

[sabrina 1]

40. Thank you, I need to read that right now.

[PatrynXX]

57. to quote rambo.. they drew first blood

I hope it doesn't go that way but they have now started a war. And this time the media is watching.

[Enthusiast]

68. Fox News said it was justified.

[sabrina 1]

72. How would they know?

:rofl: Fox, they just can't accept how irrelevant they've become.

[TBF]

2. Recommended. nt

[Autumn]

3. Recommended

this will only get bigger now.

[Starry Messenger]

4. k&r

[Danse]

6. Superb post

Thanks.

[Tippy]

7. K&R.....It is terrible people were hurt...but

It only happend because the control freeks in this country are scared. We can't really blame the police, they have a job to do and familes to support. We can blame those who caused this horrific problem. We all know who they are...Starting with the 1%, and working our way down the list.

[sabrina 1]

8. Yes, the Corporate bosses are to blame.

But the cops and prosecuters COULD refuse to do this. The Albany, NY, cops refused.

[socialist_n_TN]

10. BINGO! There comes a point when orders from on high

need to be ignored. We hung Nazis for "just following orders".

[defendandprotect]

82. KR --

[Dont call me Shirley]

34. Yes, those police who CHOSE to partake in acts of violence are at fault.

They are not the ones who ordered the violence, which needs to be investgated, but they did choose to participate in the violence and probably happily.

[bengalherder]

85. Like the one in the pic with the

shit-eating grin plastered on his feral mug?

[tblue37]

52. Yes, we CAN blame the police, because so many of them use so much more

force than is necessary, and they obviously do so because they want to and because they enjoy it.

Remember the video posted on DU a couple of weeks ago that shows one NYC cop telling another that he is hoping his nightstick will get a workout that evening? That is not someone doing what he "must" to keep his job and support his family, but someone who is eager to use his position as an excuse to abuse peaceful protesters.

[dixiegrrrrl]

63. Right. The police were "only following orders".

That's all.
No biggee.
Absolves them of all blame, it does.

[defendandprotect]

80. Come on ... even police officers know the difference between police enforcement and violence -- !!

[Old_Ed_inVN]

92. Oh, I agree

The police (brown shirts) were only following orders. That defense did not work at a certain trial in Nurenburg (sic). Sad to say that it will probably work in America.

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Another fine, informative post sabrina

I especially liked the anticapitalist tone of the first part (the letter from an anonymous friend). More and more of these folks must realize exactly WHERE the battle lines are. It's not just about the 1% having so much more than the rest of us. It's about the SYSTEM that ALLOWS that 1% to have so much more.

And indeed the 99% will fracture along the line of those who support said system and those who want something better. Whose side are you on?

[sabrina 1]

14. I wonder what orders would they refuse?

I was asking that question a while ago, just rhetorically. But these people look to me like all they need is the order to shoot and they would do it.

I was struck by the fact that the same tactics were used on all of the cities they attacked. And the protesters in Baltimore catching the Feds posing as protesters.

If the military is in any way involved in this even in an advisory capacity, which many people think they may be, I hope all of them end up behind bars for treason.

[hootinholler]

15. This is the first news I've heard from Baltimore.

Anyone have a link to more?

[sabrina 1]

Officials sent a notice that they wanted the protesters to

leave their encampment. That led them to anticipate a raid earlier today. However, it seems that officials have stated they would not enforce the order and will try to negotiate a compromise. The compromise seems to be that only two people can stay overnight and there hasn't been anything more so far.

I would remove Baltimore from the OP but cannot edit it now. Earlier Baltimore protesters were asking preparing for a raid on twitter, as were Oakland and Atlanta. I will make a comment to update that info. Thanks for asking.

[jwirr]

23. Yes, and FBI means Obama. I am very sorry to say that but it does.

The buck stops on his desk. Does he not realize that but for tactics exactly like these where would he be today?

One part that did strike me as different than MLK was that the letter indicated that there were people who were ready to defend the camp. Defense was not a part of non-violent protest because it gives the attacker an excuse for what they did. Once the occupiers can be shown to be actually fighting back we lose the sympathy of the watchers who up until then had been seeing force used against peaceful people. My great granddaughter likes the saying "Stop, drop and roll." For a protester it is best if it is "Stop, set down, and wait." And yes, the civil rights marchers did get beat and had dogs set upon them and tear gas.

That may also point up another problem with the idea of camping out overnight - it necessitates the defense of a small area and the belongings in that area. In the protests of the 60s they took ground but did not establish any type of permanent space that they had to fight for thus leaving them free to move from target to target.

I am totally for this occupation because it is the only way we are going to get change but am trying to look at ways it can be more flexible and yet just as effective.

[global1]

27. Someone Needs To Ask The President If He Supports These Tactics By The Police...

not just if he empathizes with the protests. He needs to really be put on the spot on this. He can't support the protestors and the police actions at the same time.

[Old_Ed_inVN]

93. Comfortable shoes

They must have all been lost in the transition.

[sabrina 1]

44. Yes, it's going to be hard to hold those spaces, but I think

they expect to be evicted now, then to go back, get evicted again, and as happened in NY, the police finally give up. They should maintain a peaceful stance, it really is the strongest defence. And do what they are doing, record everything. Eg, last night one of the media people from the movement was told by a cop that the protesters were the ones who had the rubber bullets.

That shows how easily they will lie. Even though it can be proven to be a lie, once it goes out on the media, people will believe it and no later correction will make any difference.

I do agree that they probably should have other places in mind to move quickly to when they are evicted.

But I think they are going to things like demand trials for everyone who arrested eg, keep returning no matter how often they are evicted, and finally force the cops to try something else.

Tonight should be interesting as they are already back in the park. But what will the police do tonight?

[deutsey]

11. On your hind legs you beat us and I hope that you're proud soldier blue

Julian Cope, Soldier Blue

[Tsiyu]

12. The police, the mayor, the governor

failed the people of Oakland.

These three are all no more than violent thugs in my book.

Violently assaulting people is not going to win Oakland anything its overlords are seeking.

[truedelphi]

59. Unfortunately, "Liberal" Governor Jerry Brown has not been

Very liberal for several decades.

I am sure he will just mutter under his breath that these rebellious young people should have attended one of his military academies, and then joined their brethren in Afghanistan, where fighting for democracy is important, rather than take to the streets here in America.

[Tsiyu]

66. Is he still hiding?

I'd want to hide too if I had anything to do with the LE side of Oakland last night.

Abuse is always shameful, no matter your rank or your macho getup.

[cppuddy]

90. Then they should be recalled. Not sure if that will get support though.

[workinclasszero]

13. Atlanta, Baltimore, San Francisco and Oakland

All at once. The 1% is getting real scared now.

It sure seems like a coordinated attack on OWS camps all across the country.

I'm sure our friends in Washington DC will condemn and investigate these barbarities visited upon innocent American citizens exercising their conditional rights.

*snort*:sarcasm:

[sabrina 1]

17. Well, they do condemn Middle Eastern and African leaders

for treating their citizens with so little respect and for brutalizing them. They to go war, supposedly, to protect people in far off lands from Government abuses so they say. So I'm sure we will hear a statement from our leaders condemning this before it escalates and someone gets killed.

I listened to that narration on the video I linked and it was deliberate violence. Then they lied to him and said it was the protesters who were shooting the rubber bullets!!! People were saying it was lucky no one died last night.

Don't know if you saw the photo of the woman in the wheel-chair in a cloud of Tear Gas with people running out to help her? She could have died, they fired that gas knowing she was disabled and if the civilians had not helped her, she would have been left to die. And it would not be the first time the police killed a citizen.

[TeeYiYi]

29. Thank you for this thread, Sabrina...

So disheartening to be reminded of how easily the government arms itself against the unarmed civilian population of this nation.

TYY :cry:

[ieoeja]

50. Died of what?

I had a friend who sat trough a tear gas test once until the gas dissipated. Admittedly, the people doing the testing said they'd never seen anyone do that before. But it can be done if you have the stomach for it.

Tear gas does not actually harm a person. It inflames everything causing your body to pour out a lot of mucus which is really uncomfortable, but perfectly safe.

[sabrina 1]

58. Someone on a respirator could die if sitting in a cloud of

tear gas. The woman was clearly disabled, in a wheel chair. No decent human being does this to a disabled, unarmed, obviously helpless individual. The risk of not knowing the person's condition for one thing, a weak heart, any number of things that a humane, normal human being would consider before such a brutal act.

But they nearly killed an Iraq War Vet, unarmed, peacefully exercising his 1st Amendment rights which he spent two tours in Iraq fighting for. Sorry, people are sick of this. There has been way too much acceptance of their brutality for far too long. Now it is going to be necessary to find out who they are working for, because it sure isn't the people who pay their salary. They clearly view the American people as the enemy. That can't continue, not if we are to continue to claim this is a civilized democratic country. If we want to drop that pretext, then fine, but anyone who seriously thinks any of this represents democracy, is just willfully blind.

[ieoeja]

61. Good point. I was going to mention they didn't mention breathing problems, but as you say...

She was disabled. So it wouldn't have been all that unlikely. And I wouldn't want to leave someone there in a wheelchair even if she had the lungs of a horse. Mostly I mentioned it cause I would love to see the cops rain down teargas on a bunch of protestors only to see the protestors tough it out. Not sure most of them realize that is even an option.

Of course, I wouldn't want the police to attack a bunch of people anyway. Other cities just walked in, cuffed them, and hauled them out one-by-one. This really makes the Oakland PD look cowardly by comparison.

[sabrina 1]

62. Yes, some of the comments on twitter by people who were

there at the time, mentioned that she was having problems and they ran over to help her. There are several photos of this incident. What I don't know is if when the other people ran to help, if another cannister was thrown at them. Someone said that, but it has not been verified.

As far as toughing it out, yes, that would be a good thing. One of the live feeds I was following which had audio and video, the guy filming was trying not to get arrested because then the feed would stop. And then he was hit with tear gas. It was his first time he said, he was clearly not comfortable but he did stay and kept filming so I guess he managed to tough it out :-)

[ieoeja]

64. I'm guessing it is a whole lot easier for me to suggest it than for someone to do it!

I really wouldn't want to try it. Frankly, I'm not the protestor type to begin with. But if I did, I think I would try. Wouldn't want to. But I think I would. I do get stubborn sometimes.

For that matter, I'm the guy who always volunteered to throw the hay off the wagon onto the elevator in large part to avoid the dust in the barn! Conversely, the guy I knew who did it in the Army always volunteered to work in the barn. And we mostly grew clover which is really, super nasty. The guys came out covered head to toe and shooting it out their noses. Not a gentlemanly job.

In fact, when he did the tear gas, he said the hay barn might have actually been worse. Because he just had to sit there in the gas chamber while he had to keep doing a job in the hay barn.

[sabrina 1]

70. Lol, everything is always easier to suggest than to actually do,

true. I read somewhere that the Police have to experience tear gas in training. Maybe the military also?

Interesting about the barn and the gas chamber. Maybe moving around is the best way to handle it?

[csziggy]

89. This video has both the woman in the wheelchair and the Iraq veteran

Who were not far apart and hit during the same sequence. Watch from about 3:00 on. The woman in the wheel chair is farther away from the camera person. At 3:12 you can see on the right a person falling and hitting the pavement - that is the Iraq veteran just after being hit.

http://youtu.be/nM3GgZTPYiA

You can also see people running to help both individuals and additional canisters being thrown at the helpers. If you watch very carefully at about 3:28 you can see the canister or grenade being thrown into the crowd around the Iraq veteran.

[sabrina 1]

98. Thank you for that video. I had seen the last part where the

people ran over to try to help the person on the ground, but didn't know that was the Iraq veteran. This video is much clearer and you can really see the projectile they threw directly into the people trying to help him. Other video I've seen was much less clear than this.

You should post it in the Video section if it isn't there already. I heard yesterday that the police were claiming that Scott, the Iraq Veteran, might have been hit by one of the protesters. It's a good thing people have been filming themselves, or they would probably get away with those lies.

[sabrina 1]

105. Just watched this again. You can see Scott Olsen and the Navy veteran

starting at around 2.05 - 2.18. They were just standing there, the Navy vet waving his flag. They were both inside the barricade, obviously in a symbolic gesture to protect the people. There is other footage that has slowed down another video which shows the cannister being fired that actually hit him. It then shows what looks like the same police officer as the one who threw the cannister at the people who ran to help him.

I'm trying to find that video again and thought this was the one.

[Tippy]

18. Good News...They are back.....

[sabrina 1]

19. They are? Haven't seen that news, but if so, good for them.

Thanks for the info ~ I hope they sue the city, the police, the mayor and the more lies they tell, the more damages those they injured and abused and falsely arrested can claim.

[Tom Rinaldo]

20. I believe the Mayor set the protest would be allowed by day - need to clear by 10PM

I doubt that will resolve anything.

[sabrina 1]

24. Okay, that's different. They will have to decide what to do tonight

then. Thanks for the clarification.

[blindpig]

21. This is how resistance will be met, Capital will not be challenged.

This is the true nature of bourgeois democracy. There is no reforming this thing, it must be overturned.

[sabrina 1]

30. I agree, but how?

[blindpig]

31. Organize, organize, organize.

We are so far behind. It will be neither quick nor painless but there is no alternative, our only strength is our numbers.

[bertman]

22. The best way to fight this is MORE MIDDLE CLASS AMERICANS taking to the streets.

I love that that young people are spearheading this, but when the police have to beat the shit out of middle-class, middle-aged or elderly people, THEN we'll see the public anger hit new levels.

REC.

[sabrina 1]

33. There were elderly and middle-aged people there.

They tear-gassed a woman in a wheel chair. And then made no effort to get her away from the gas cloud. Protesters had to rescue her. And there were children there earlier also. I don't think it matters to them who is there. They get their orders and they do as they are told.

Our government is brutal. People need to realize that a government that will kill hundreds of thousands of people, millions in fact, when you count those who died in Iraq under the sanctions, and then order the assassinations of American citizens without trial, torture and maim people for life, and then do it all over again in other countries, kill people, children and women on a regular basis with cowardly but deadly weapons, from thousands of miles away as if they were playing video games, not dealing with actual humans, why would anyone think that if the American people begin to threaten what matters most to them, they would not kill Americans also? We are mere commodities to them. They don't care about people. They kill Americans every day by refusting to provide them with HC eg.

That's why it is so wrong to support any of their brutal wars or cheer for their murderous, brutal attacks on leaders of foreign nations. Because we have enabled them, like enabled an addict who will also one day steal from you, or attack you when you are in the way of what s/he wants.

I have no doubt that current system we live under, no American is safe from this government IF they threaten the status quo in any way. People tweeting from Oakland tonight said it was fortunate no one died there last night.

[bertman]

51. Maybe there were a FEW elderly folks or even middle-aged folks there, but every video

I see shows mostly twenty- and thirty-somethings.

My point is that we need the HUGE group in the middle to SHOW UP AND HIT THE STREETS.

To a degree, I agree with your other assertions about our country, BUT when most police realize that it's NOT just a bunch of angry students who are rebelling they begin to think and, as in Wisconsin and now in Albany, they refuse to take part.

[sabrina 1]

60. Well, probably if you are looking at the videos after the police

attacked, many of the weaker people, the children and the elderly, got out of harms way. But most of the photos of the crowd before they attacked, had many different kinds of people, some showing children playing and grandmas and older men. A very mixed group.

I understand what you are saying, but you know what? Every citizen has the right to protest, and catering to these thugs who we now know, have seriously wounded an Iraq Vet, who was wearing a shirt saying 'Veterans For Peace' isn't what needs to be done. He is in intensive care now and may have brain damage.

Frankly I don't think after their brutal attacks last night on innocent, unarmed, peaceful people, anyone feels like adjusting to what they might best react to. What we want a Civilian Police force whose job it is to protect and serve the people who pay their salaries. These are NOT a civilian police force. Their behavior is the that of a foreign military who view the American as a dangerous enemy. They do not work for the people. They attacked the people, indiscriminately, the disabled, the old the young, veterans. They are out of control so the issue is what is going to be done about them?

I am sorry, after looking at the photos of that Iraq Veteran, who did two tours in Iraq bleeding from the head after an encounter in his own country with our so-called civilian police, I can't find any excuse at all for what they did. It's just sad, all of it.

[bertman]

84. I didn't ask you to find any excuse for it. We also must have seen different videos

because the ones I saw showed 95% young people.

I also didn't say anything about every citizen not having a right to protest.

Please take your frustration out on someone who ISN'T on your side.

[sabrina 1]

86. Sorry, that did come across the wrong way.

I was just remembering the photos I saw before the police attacked them. But those were earlier as it was still light. The children and older people probably did go home, which is fortunate, and the later photos did have mostly young people, you are right about that.

I do understand your point and agree with it. My apologies for the tone, it wasn't aimed at you, I was thinking of the cops who hurt those people, especially the Iraq veteran. That really touched me, that he was there wearing a shirt that said he was a veteran, for peace. Just got to me and I got angry, not at you, at them ~ :hi:

[bertman]

97. Thanks for the explanation, sabrina. I well understand your anger and frustration.

[Warren Stupidity]

25. perhaps nato will intervene?

oh wait...

[sabrina 1]

28. Lol!

We could use some help. Check out this little terrorist from Oakland!

http://yfrog.com/nukpxsj

[sabrina 1]

26. Correction to OP and it's good news. Baltimore was not

attacked. The city has offered the protesters a compromise. Sorry about the error.

City Officials Want Occupy Baltimore To Clear Out Of Inner Harbor

[tex-wyo-dem]

32. ...then they fight you...

Thank you for the incredible post, Sabrina.

I am quite certain that these actions by the state will only make the protests grow. This is the way it has happened throughout history. Authoritarians and tyrants, without fail, one way or another, always fall sooner or later.

[gratuitous]

41. Yep, this is the "then they fight you" part

And it's a very tricky part, because if you fight back with violence, that becomes the standard for the narrative that those in authority will use. It won't matter that the cops started things with the tear gas, batons and rubber bullets, only that those dirty fucking hippies didn't respect their authori-tay and had the effrontery to hit back.

[inna]

35. KR KR KR KR KR

:kick:

[Eyerish]

36. K&R

[KoKo]

37. K&R...for all of it....!

[woo me with science]

38. K&R nt

[Vanje]

39. K! R!

[Fire Walk With Me]

42. Kick and Recommend!

[Douglas Carpenter]

43. kick and recommend

[Jim_Shorts]

45. Interesting juxtaposition at Breitbart

The next time anyone says that we are becoming too uncivil on DU, just check out a right winger site. A democrat tries to bring some reality to the conversation on the second comment page, phew, he has heart.
http://www.breitbart.tv/occupyoakland-protesters-sorround-throw-paint-on-police/#idc-cover

Important story Sabrina, thanks for posting.

[fasttense]

95. You need to visit this site and thumbs down all the anti-democratic

comments. You don't have to register to do a thumbs down or up.

There is that one comment that was pro occupy.

[sabrina 1]

99. Occupy Breitbart. Lol! Good idea we should do that.

[DemOhio]

46. Iran

There was video, Im pretty sure it was from the Iranian protests this year, where a group of protesters kneeled in front of the riot police. It looked amazing and clearly made the protesters appear as the peaceful group only asking for their demands to be heard, not for violence. When the media shows people running around and being thrown down by police, the police can state that they were attacked (they said this very thing in Oakland). However, if the footage shows genuflecting peaceful resistance, then you win the hearts and minds of the public.

[sabrina 1]

54. This movement has already won the minds and hearts of

the people. The polls show that 57% approve of them. In the NYC poll, over 80% say they have a right to be there, and approx. 69% agree with them.

But I know what you mean, however, it is the police who create the violence. The protesters were peaceful until the cops started throwing people on the ground and shooting rubber bullets at them. That is simply not acceptable and in fact should be a crime. They no longer represent the people, they are Global Cops, working for Multi-National Corps and no matter how peaceful the protesters are, if they continue to be successful, the cops will be sent out to beat them up, to infiltrate them, to smear them. The problem is those tactics used to work, but people know they do this now so it's not as effective. Plus we have our own media.

[StarsInHerHair]

83. remember sitting down & "rooting" yourself to the ground as a kid? That should

be used here too

[sabrina 1]

100. Just want to say that I agree with you. The image of very

peaceful protesters, as you depicted them, is the way to do it. I know they are trying to train people not to react to the violence and seem to have been mostly successful so far. But that is very important, thanks for comment.

[orbitalman]

47. Police brutality can only stop when they are threatened....

and are unable to make reprisal.

"We know this because we know that the question is not whether the police are “part of the 99%,” on the basis of their salary. What is called the 99% is ruptured by many divisions. Among these is the dividing line that runs between those who want to change the world and those who uphold the status quo..."

:mad:

[DemOhio]

48. Violence or threat of violence

is not the best course of action. Other than the belief in non-violence...there is always the issue that the national guard or army can come in if stuff gets too hot for the cops.

[JamesJ]

49. Did you think it would be easy?

Did you expect the 1% to give up without a fight? They own the governments, city, state and federal. They've armed their police with military weapons. They've trained their police to fire on American citizens, to deprive American citizens of their rights.

This is just the beginning.

We have a long way to go to get our country back.

[sabrina 1]

55. No, I don't think we did. I guess it's just so blatant now who the

cops work for. And who our politicians work for. How many of them have condemned the violations of Constitutional rights so far?

It's sad because it makes me think of how different it could be and how much good people could do. But you're right, we do have a long, long way to go and it may get very violent if we get to be a serious threat to them.

[Uncle Joe]

53. A similar tactic of bringing in outsiders was used by Communist China during the

Tienanmen Sq Massacre, the difference being they used Army units from other parts of China.

At 4:30 am on October 25, Occupy Oakland was raided by more than 500 police from multiple counties. From a comrade who was there:

Thanks for the thread, sabrina.

[sabrina 1]

56. Yes, it is definitely a military strategy. Our police have been

militarized, since they can't use the military on civilians, they found another way, turn the police forces into military units.

[defendandprotect]

79. +1000% -- !!!

[DeSwiss]

65. K&R n/t

[katty]

67. K&R

this sums it up:
-"An entire generation across the globe has grown up realizing, rationally and emotionally, that we have no future in the current order of things."

[demigoddess]

69. never thought I would see this in the USA but then we did

didn't we?? protests against the Vietnam war.

[Zorra]

71. knr 4 an excellent post. nt

[santamargarita]

73. There is NO turning back - keep going!

[fascisthunter]

75. .

[sabrina 1]

77. Yes and growing because we need to be too big to fail.

[bergie321]

74. The Libyan Transitional Government

Should condemn the United States for attacking protesters and take it to the UN to ask for sanctions. We are 1 step away from being Syria here.

[MedleyMisty]

91. The Egyptians are marching to the US embassy today

to demonstrate in support of Occupy Oakland and "to ask the US to stop the crackdown on their people". Confirmed by plenty of Egyptian activists on Twitter, and there's also a Facebook page.

[sabrina 1]

102. That gives me chills. They know how the American people

supported them and it's so nice to see they appreciated and remember that.

[Firebrand Gary]

76. K&R

[defendandprotect]

78. These attacks will haunt these officers one day -- maybe when THEY most need medical care ....

or when they are trying to help someone in their family who needs a job or

medical care --

The love and care of the protesters in thinking through what they are doing and

at the same time trying to provide for others in need, gives me hope that one day

they will convince the violent to stand stop what they are doing!

All the tents are down, pots are strewn everywhere, the library scattered, the garden stomped, the Commune is in ruins. “Though it fed thousands for free and welcomed the city’s desperately poor homeless population, this public park can hopefully now return to its natural state of being completely empty.” Dozens of smug assholes and their batons surround the emptiness they prefer to the fragile possibilities that were created, getting paid overtime to chat across their barricades with idiots who think the cops are on the same side as those they just attacked and threw in jail, while others hurl insults against dead ears.

[defendandprotect]

81. If FBI are infiltrating in Baltimore ... they're doing it across the movements ... !! Hi, Obama!!

Re Baltimore, MD:

BaltoSpectator Baltimore Spectator
by OccupyBaltimore
2 hrs
Several members of #OccupyBaltimore quitely followed the 4 men at a distance after they left.All entered the federal building using keycards
9:41 PM Oct 25th

Baltimore Spectator
BaltoSpectator Baltimore Spectator
by OccupyBaltimore
2 hrs
Folks telling of the 4 federal agents in jeans & t-shirts attempted to infiltrate group tonight…

[burrowowl]

87. K&R

[mwrguy]

88. That's not a flashbang

It's another type of CS grenade.

[sabrina 1]

104. Thank you, I don't know anything about these weapons, the

protesters were trying to identify what was being used. Is that more dangerous than a flashbang?

[Ganja Ninja]

94. Sickening.

I hope a bankster steals their pensions.

[sabrina 1]

101. Love your sigline

;-)

As for their pensions, if Banksters can do it, they will. I hope they wake up before that happens, but if they don't, it will be their own fault.

[Lorien]

96. ...

[sabrina 1]

103. Sad that this is so true and that it was tolerated for so long.

[louslobbs]

106. Thank you for the post Sabrina, I tried to rec, but too late.....kicked anyway.

Your friend,
Lou