Early this morning, Occupy Oakland was once again evicted from its main encampment.
Mayor Jean Quan's legal advisor, a long-time friend with whom she went to college, resigned over the raid:
His Facebook post: "No longer Mayor Quan's legal adviser. Resigned at 2 am. Support Occupy Oakland, not the 1% and its government facilitators."
Unlike previous events in Oakland, the eviction was peaceful. Here are excerpts from Inside Bay Area's excellent liveblog of what went down:
3:40 a.m. Protesters are prepare for an imminent raid
About 500 people have spilled into the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street and are playing bucket drums and chanting.
4:20 a.m. Many campers packing up
Although many tents are still standing, the camp has become a patchwork as protesters starting packing up.
At least 20 tents are coming down. One man who wouldn't give his name looked regretful as he packed up his things. "We are going to lose a lot of resources out here."
4:45 a.m. Police closing in
Police in riot gear are very close to the encampment, next to the Rotunda building. The line of police are about 50 feet from the camp.
Most of the occupiers have left the encampment and moved to 14th street and Broadway.
There are about 50 or 75 people still in camp, but the majority are now waiting in the intersection.
5:15 a.m. Police surround camp, start to walk through
Police have peacefully surrounded both the camp and the plaza.
A line of police officers have encircled the plaza, and some are walking through the camp. They've also surrounded the more than 500 protesters in the intersection.
They have not made any arrests, or clashed with protesters. They are letting people out but not letting anyone in
5:25 a.m. Camp deserted as police walk through
The Occupy Oakland camp is looking desolate, abandoned. A police helicopter is hovering overhead, shining a light and announcing over a speaker that anyone there must leave now. But there's no one in the tents, it seems empty. There are some people nearby, lingering near the police line on the plaza.
Ultimately, the encampment was torn down and 32 arrests were made. As Joshua Holland notes, the peaceful nature of the eviction is an indictment of local law enforcement's previous tactics in clashes with Occupy Oakland:
Occupy Oakland will
meet at 4 PM PT at the public library to discuss the reoccupation of Oakland. A satellite Occupy Oakland encampment at Snow Park was not raided and remains operational.
For more discussion on the eviction, see this post by catilinus on the recommended list.