There were 300 arrests today at #OccupyOakland during the Rise Up Festival and Move-in Day (FAQ) attempt to both try to establish a community center and remind folks that there are 4 vacant homes for every homeless person in America.
Following a brutal crackdown by the authorities who used flash bombs, tear gas, and reportedly rubber bullets that is on par with the methods used by tinpot dictators, the protesters diverted their march. A bit later, various law enforcement agencies who were shipped in on golden time completely kettled the protesters at the YMCA, then conducted a mass arrest for "failure to disperse." A couple hundred managed to escape after folks in the YMCA gave them passage.
It is cold outside.
Like millions of people in this country,
Occupy Oakland has no home.
And yet, all over the city, thousands of buildings stand empty.
On January 28, we are going to occupy one of those
buildings and turn it into a social center.
We are going to fill the space with a kitchen,
first aid station, sleeping quarters, an assembly area,
libraries, free school classes,
and hundreds of uses yet to be determined.
Lets establish our new home, defend it,
and adapt it to Oaklands needs.
We get what we can take.
Photos courtesy of Rob Salzman, who is the nexus of #ows on Google+.
Occupy Oakland Move-in Day promo
2:31 silent clip. Front birds-eye view of the #OccupyOakland marchers getting stopped and attacked with various weapons. Reports indicate flash bombs, tear gas, and possibly rubber bullets being used by the authorities.
7 minute clip of the police halting the march, the front line of protesters setting up behind their protective shields, and the aftermath of the stun grenade volley.
Video footage is scarce from the later kettling and mass arrests of protesters at the YMCA. Many protesters managed to escape being kettled by someone in the YMCA and exiting out the back door before police rushed in and prevented any more from dispersing. Livestream members were kept far away from the what was going on at this point, being prevented access.
Various live streams used for #J28, and likely to be used for #J29 are below. It should be noted there were reports of some of these mysteriously going down yesterday. Oakfosho (on twitter) had the deepest cuts of the night for streaming coverage.
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Twitter hashtags:
#RiseUp
#Movein
#J28 #J29
#oo #OccupyOakland
#ows
Following the crackdown, Anonymous Retaliates, Exposes information on Oakland officials.