Demonstrators as well as city and business leaders expressed optimism that the widely anticipated “general strike” would be a peaceful event for a city that became a rallying point last week after an Iraq War veteran was injured in clashes between protesters and police.
The protest did get rowdy at several points during the afternoon. Several banks were vandalized and a window at one Bank of America branch was shattered. Protesters also vandalized a Whole Foods after a rumor spread the the grocery store had threatened to fire employees who particiapted in the strike. Whole Foods denies making any such threats and tweeted that “Team Members were told to attend if they wanted to.”
There did seem to be conflict between the protesters over the vandalism. A different group of protesters could be seen cleaning graffiti off a Wells Fargo branch and a skirmish broke out at the Whole Foods as some protesters tried to stop others from vandalizing the store. A police spokesperson confirmed that five businesses were vandalized throughout the day.
And when the sun went down, Oakland PD stepped in and did what they seem to do best: rile people up.
Around 10:30 p.m. a group of a couple hundred protesters went into the Travelers Aid building to occupy it. For a while the crowd danced in the streets outside the building and used large dumpsters to block the road leading to the building on Telegraph and 16th, near Frank Ogawa Plaza and hung a banner saying, “Occupy Everything.” Around 3:30 a.m. the protesters decided to peacefully head back to their camp at Frank Ogawa Plaza and back away from the police line.
At 11:45 p.m., we started to receive reports via Twitter that police were moving in on protesters at the Travelers Aid building that occupiers took over.
Bay City News reported that tear gas was deployed on an Occupy Oakland crowd marching through downtown Oakland early this morning.
The area near Broadway and 14th Street, Frank Ogawa Plaza has been declared an unlawful assembly and people have been asked to clear the plaza by police in riot gear just before 1:15 a.m.
Several arrests have been made as the crowd refuses to disperse.
Smoke grenades were thrown into the plaza away from where the encampment stands.
One man appeared to be knocked unconscious by a possible rubber bullet and was carried into the camp to be treated by a camp medic.
There was a tense confrontation between law authorities and a few hundred protesters near 17th Street and Telegraph Avenue around midnight after what the Occupy Oakland Twitter account said was a reopening of a foreclosed building at 520 16th St. late Wednesday night.
Protesters set several dumpsters on fire as a barricade to block police near 17th and Broadway. Other people have smashed windows along Broadway, as police push the crowd toward Frank Ogawa Plaza.
The crowd chanted, “These streets are our streets.”
And just as it was only a matter of time before the “Occupy Movement” got rowdy, it was only a matter of time before the “1%” got fed up too.
