Desperate Occupy turns violent. Again.

by Duderino 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  Duderino

  Arrests in Oakland protests rise to more than 400

  More than 400 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested in Oakland during a night of skirmishes in which police fired tear gas and bean bag projectiles, the city said on Sunday, marking one of the biggest mass arrests since nationwide economic protests began last year.

  Earlier on Sunday, authorities had said that the arrest figure was between 200 and 300. But the Oakland emergency operations center said in a statement that revised that up to more than 400, and said that Oakland Police were expected to announce a more precise number later on Sunday.

  Riot police on Saturday night fought running skirmishes with protesters, injuring three officers and at least one demonstrator.

  The scuffles erupted in the afternoon as activists sought to take over a shuttered downtown convention center, sparking cat-and-mouse battles that lasted well into the night in a city that has seen tensions between police and protesters boil over repeatedly.

  Oakland has become an unlikely flashpoint of the national "Occupy" protests against economic inequality that began last year in New York's financial district and have spread to dozens of cities across the country.

  The protests in most cities have been peaceful and sparked a national debate over how much of the country's wealth is held by the richest 1 percent of the population. President Barack Obama has sought to capitalize on the attention by calling for higher taxes on the richest Americans.

  Protests focused on Oakland after a former Marine, Scott Olsen, was critically injured during a demonstration in October. Protesters said he was hit in the head by a tear gas canister but authorities have never said exactly how he was hurt.

  The Occupy movement appeared to lose momentum late last year as police cleared protest camps in cities across the country.

  Violence erupted again in Oakland on Saturday when protesters attempted to take over the apparently empty downtown convention center to establish a new headquarters and draw attention to the problem of homelessness.

  Police in riot gear moved in, firing smoke grenades, tear gas and bean-bag projectiles to drive the crowd back.

  "Officers were pelted with bottles, metal pipe, rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices and burning flares," the Oakland Police Department said in a statement. "Oakland Police Department deployed smoke and tear gas."

  Some activists, carrying shields made of plastic garbage cans and corrugated metal, tried to circumvent the police line, and surged toward police on another side of the building as more smoke canisters were fired.

  Oakland city officials said "extremists" were fomenting the demonstrations and using the city as a playground for the movement. Protesters have accused the city of overreacting and using heavy-handed tactics.

  Across the country in New York, police said four people were arrested on Saturday night after protesters clashed with police at what demonstrators had called an "OccuParty" inside an abandoned building in the borough of Brooklyn. Protesters knocked over garbage pails and hurled objects at police, slightly injuring six officers, a police spokesman said. The four people were charged with a variety of crimes including inciting a riot.

  Tension was rising in Washington as well, where the National Park Service has said it will bar Occupy protesters in the nation's capital from camping in two parks near the White House where they have been living since October.

  That order, if carried out as promised on Monday, could be a blow to one of the highest-profile chapters of the movement.

  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/29/us-oakland-protests-idUSTRE80S00520120129
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  Band on the Run

  How many times was Martin Luther King arrested and sent to jail. He was considered a hated troublemaker, stirring up otherwise content Negroes. Now his birthday is a federal holiday.

  Did you ever consider that there are two parties to these actions: the police ( politices decided by mayor and other administrators) and the demonstrators.

  I was present at every major antiwar march in NY and DC. A small fraction of the crowd committed nonviolent protests. You had to commit to a 2 week nonviolent training period to not fight back agains tthe police or feds. The overwhelming majority (600,0000 or more) went home peaceably without incident. I never had the time for nonviolent training so I never was arrested. In fact, arrests are meaningless. Convictions count. I never committed a misdemeanor. If two high school students committed a misdemeanor, it does not mean everyone present committed a misdemeanor. The police never arrest a movement. Police arrest individuals.

  In Russia and China, govt. dissidents are praised by the West. Mass arrests are political theatre. No one is going to serve hard time upstate.
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  botchtowersociety

  Video: Couple Murdered by Adopted Son After Arguments Over Occupy Movement

  http://www.verumserum.com/?p=37383
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  botchtowersociety

  How many times was Martin Luther King arrested and sent to jail.

  You're very full of crap. Martin Luther King never advocated or practiced violence.

  The Occupy people want their right to assemble respected, even when it means breaking the law, but they don't seem to give a damn about anyone else's rights to do so. Here (follows) they are breaking up pro-life gatherings in Rhode Island. The speakers couldn't even finish, and the Occupy people threw condoms on Catholic schoolchildren. The attendees were "jostled" by the Occupy people, which is probably their tactic to provoke a physical response they can then capture on video and use as propaganda. Incidentally, I thought the Occupy movement was about economics....so WTH are these disgraceful people doing breaking up pro-life gatherings?

  Occupy Wall Street protesters throw condoms, drown out speakers at Rhode Island pro-life rally

  PROVIDENCE, RI, January 30, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street movement threw condoms on Catholic schoolgirls, refused to allow a Catholic priest to give a closing prayer, and shouted down a pro-life speaker at a Rhode Island right to life rally on Thursday, according to its organizer. The event marked the third time protesters associated with the movement have disrupted a pro-life meeting in a week.

  About two-dozen members of Occupy Providence hiked from Burnside Park to the 39th Annual Pro-Life State House Rally organized by the Rhode Island State Right to Life Committee on Thursday.

  The pro-life organization’s executive director, Barth E. Bracy, told LifeSiteNews.com that, near the end of the rally, the Occupiers “strategically fanned out with military precision.”

  That’s when they “started showering condoms down on some of the girls from a Catholic high school.”

  They gathered around speakers at the podium, shouting them down or otherwise jostling them and members of the audience.

  Bracy, who finished only a quarter of his keynote address before being drowned out by chants and catcalls, said the Occupiers – who carried a large sign reading “Occupy Providence” and wore distinguishing arm bands – physically bumped several people. “They’re touching you. They’re swarming you,” he said.

  The Providence chapter openly planned its actions on its Facebook page, Bracy said.

  Bracy said he was disappointed when he tried to ask a man from the national Occupy Wall Street movement, who identified himself as “Dallas,” what opposing the right to life had to do with economics. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/why-does-occupy-wall-st.-support-big-abortion “You can’t have a reasoned conversation with these people,” he said, “They simply try to taunt you. They’re smug, snarky, arrogant. You won’t get a straight answer.”

  Dallas told Bracy he was on a 13-city national tour to teach Saul Alinsky tactics to local organizers.

  “Their actions have made it loud and clear, whatever else they are, they are pro-abortion – and they are willing to attack the pro-life movement,” Bracy told LifeSiteNews.

  Members of the Occupy movement, which putatively focuses on economic and financial issues, have begun aggressively demonstrating against those who advocate for the rights of the unborn.

  Approximately 15 protesters from Occupy D.C. disrupted the March for Life Youth Rally in the nation’s capital last Saturday evening.

  Last Monday, they disrupted a prayer service for the unborn in front of the Supreme Court.

  “What they did yesterday was clearly the most outrageous and egregious thing they’ve done so far,” Bracy said on Friday. “I don’t know if this is a sign of what’s to come from them, but I think it’s important Catholics and pro-lifers know who these people are.”

  However, such outrageous and offensive tactics may prove counterproductive for the pro-abortion movement. “They couldn’t have done us a bigger favor,” Bracy said. “We’re more popular with the legislators than we’ve ever been, because they’re absolutely appalled at their behavior.”

  http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/occupy-wall-street-protesters-throw-condoms-drown-out-speakers-at-rhode-isl?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifesitenewscomLatestHeadlines+%28LifeSiteNews.com+Latest+Headlines%29
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  outsmartthesystem

  This is typical conservative reporting.

  "You're very full of crap. Martin Luther King never advocated or practiced violence."

  This is true.....but it did not stop some of those that supported him from practicing violence

  The same is true of the occupy movement. The conservative media reports like to focus on SOME (the minority) of the knuckle-headed Occupy protesters while ignoring the fact that the vast majority are doing their protest peacefully.