In Oakland,
California, where I live, the Occupiers have been struggling to
keep their ground on Ogawa Plaza, a piece of public property in
front of City Hall. On the night of Tuesday, October 25, I saw from
my apartment, miles northeast of the action, dozens of police cars
zoom in from a neighboring jurisdiction. I looked at an online police
scanner where the Oakland police department described the situation
as a riot and requested a multi-county tactical response. Hundreds
of police, donning intimidating riot gear, swept in to confront
the crowd on the streets. There was no riot, however, as almost
all the protesters were peaceful, the only ones acting out with
petty violence being loudly chastised by the crowd. The most belligerent
participants by far were law enforcers, who responded to thrown
bottles and civil disobedience with tear
gas and rubber bullets. One man, Scott Olsen, was hit with one
of the police’s projectiles, his skull fractured. Thankfully, he
is now reportedly in fair condition. You can tell from the videos
that the police were not exactly using restraint with these weapons.
They even threw percussion grenades at the protesters who came to
Olsen’s aid. What began as a typical overbearing government response
to protesters in the name of public health now offers a peak into
the full threat to liberty that we face in modern America.
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