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[timotheus]

The police activity in Oakland is chilling to me, especially since I live close. I commute via BART to the MacArthur stop every day.

[SalmonGod]

It turns out the person who was lying on the ground and had the flashbang thrown on top of him was the same guy with the head injury -- Scott Olsen.  He served in Iraq for two years, even though he was opposed to the war.  Since then, he's been involved with Iraq Veterans Against the War.  He was shot in the head with a gas canister, and is currently in critical condition with a skull fracture and possible brain swelling. 

Also, I've seen a lot of people saying things like this, but so far this quote is the most straightforward

"My part of Oakland is full of poor people. There’s at least one murder a week. Old creeps pimp out teenaged girls in broad daylight. You can buy crack or heroin 30 feet from my door, and two of my neighbors have been held up at gun point this summer. And the City of Oakland says they don’t have the police to stop any of that. But a bunch of people protesting the fact that rich people got a bail out and everyone else got nothing? The city shuts them down tight. Bang. Done. Riot act. Do you ever get the feeling you’ve bean cheated? I do. Every day.”

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It turns out the person who was lying on the ground and had the flashbang thrown on top of him was the same guy with the head injury -- Scott Olsen.  He served in Iraq for two years, even though he was opposed to the war.  Since then, he's been involved with Iraq Veterans Against the War.  He was shot in the head with a gas canister, and is currently in critical condition with a skull fracture and possible brain swelling. 

That is at least a skull fracture, probably also gave him a concussion. Hopefully he'll go the hospital and not home to get some sleep.

I have never been so unhappy about correctly calling something.

[Impending Doom]

It turns out the person who was lying on the ground and had the flashbang thrown on top of him was the same guy with the head injury -- Scott Olsen.  He served in Iraq for two years, even though he was opposed to the war.  Since then, he's been involved with Iraq Veterans Against the War.  He was shot in the head with a gas canister, and is currently in critical condition with a skull fracture and possible brain swelling. 

Also, I've seen a lot of people saying things like this, but so far this quote is the most straightforward

"My part of Oakland is full of poor people. There’s at least one murder a week. Old creeps pimp out teenaged girls in broad daylight. You can buy crack or heroin 30 feet from my door, and two of my neighbors have been held up at gun point this summer. And the City of Oakland says they don’t have the police to stop any of that. But a bunch of people protesting the fact that rich people got a bail out and everyone else got nothing? The city shuts them down tight. Bang. Done. Riot act. Do you ever get the feeling you’ve bean cheated? I do. Every day.”

Wait...

Watch the last 20 seconds of this. Girl gets knocked unconscious by the initial barrage of exploding gas canisters.  About a dozen people from the fleeing crowd turn around to help her.  The line of cops serve and protect by standing there watching, and one throws another exploding canister right next to her unconscious body.

I'm confused. The guy's got long hair, but other than that he doesn't look particularly girly. Can anyone confirm this?

[Aqizzar]

I have never been so unhappy about correctly calling something.

At least according to this blog by somebody who appears to have been there, the guy was taken to a hospital very soon afterward.

[SalmonGod]

I'm confused. The guy's got long hair, but other than that he doesn't look particularly girly. Can anyone confirm this?

Yeah, that was my mistake.  I said girl because the source of the link at that time said girl.  Trying to get live information like this is a little chaotic, and details always get corrected over time.

On that same note, I've tried to find information about the four children who were supposedly taken into custody in the early morning raid, but haven't been able to find much.  I consider it only a popular rumor right now.  All I know for sure is that there was a tent set up as a sort of daycare at the occupation camp.  A few people took it upon themselves to collect donations of toys and such and care for the children there.  There were several children who, by the time of the raid, were fully living there.  I don't know if they were homeless strays or what.  At the general assembly following the raid, the founder of that child care thing (not sure what to formally call it) said that four of the children she'd been caring for were missing, and called for the crowd to bring her any information they had.  That moment was caught on video and started getting passed around, and I think people sort of ran with it.

At least according to this blog by somebody who appears to have been there, the guy was taken to a hospital very soon afterward.

The Guardian has a blog set up for updates on Scott Olsen's condition.  I didn't post it earlier, because I thought I'd seen a lot of hate for that news site around here.  So trust only as much as you wish, but there appears to be a lot of information here.  I haven't read through all of it.

Btw... most of my information just comes from searching "Occupy Oakland" on Google+ (make sure to hit 'Most Recent'), and following links from there.

And, when available, the official occupy livestreams or any other live coverage I can find, but I've noticed that more livestreams are going down lately and media are being intimidated or directly attacked before any police action.

[Levi]

"My part of Oakland is full of poor people. There’s at least one murder a week. Old creeps pimp out teenaged girls in broad daylight. You can buy crack or heroin 30 feet from my door, and two of my neighbors have been held up at gun point this summer. And the City of Oakland says they don’t have the police to stop any of that. But a bunch of people protesting the fact that rich people got a bail out and everyone else got nothing? The city shuts them down tight. Bang. Done. Riot act. Do you ever get the feeling you’ve bean cheated? I do. Every day.”

What a great quote. 

[Heliman]

Note that this guy is not an occupier, and claims he used to be only mildly sympathetic to the movement.

As I walked away and got into my car, I left as a full fledged Occupier.

emphasis added

Wow how in the hell did I miss that? I must be getting sleepy.

Wait, I finally figured out what was wrong with it, emphasis added.

Note that this guy is not an occupier, and claims he used to be only mildly sympathetic to the movement.

This doesn't really mean anything anymore, just disregard it, I'm just letting you all know that I am not insane but just plain nitpicky.

[Leafsnail]

The Guardian has a blog set up for updates on Scott Olsen's condition.  I didn't post it earlier, because I thought I'd seen a lot of hate for that news site around here.  So trust only as much as you wish, but there appears to be a lot of information here.  I haven't read through all of it.

The Guardian is the one that exposed the NotW hacking scandal.  I don't think there's any problem with its coverage.

[SalmonGod]

Ok, I suppose that was an odd conflict of terminologies that I wasn't aware of.  What I was meaning to say is that his writing implied he wasn't directly involved in the movement.  He'd just been doing some amateur journalism (seemed like he was just curious and wanted to get some cool footage), and didn't fully embrace the movement until after his encounter with the police.  So he was previously not an "Occupier" in the sense that he wasn't camping out with or necessarily trying to promote them.  He "left as a full-fledged Occupier" in the sense that they had won him over that night.

Of course, he could be fabricating his motives to make the story more sympathetic and sensational.  Who knows.  It's pretty clear that people on both sides of the conflict do that.

(Woops you ninja edited; I thought this was actually bothering you)

[palsch]

The Guardian has a blog set up for updates on Scott Olsen's condition.  I didn't post it earlier, because I thought I'd seen a lot of hate for that news site around here.  So trust only as much as you wish, but there appears to be a lot of information here.  I haven't read through all of it.

The Guardian is the one that exposed the NotW hacking scandal.  I don't think there's any problem with its coverage.

Just to be clear, The Grauniad is an openly leftist/liberal (but middle class) paper here in the UK, where most papers hold strong editorial lines. They are seen as the paper for crunchy hippies and students (and I read it a lot as an undergrad), but also have a strong tradition of journalism and have been one of the few papers not only to keep high staff levels and reporting standards. This is probably because they have never turned a profit and have no intention of doing so, ever, burning some £33m in the last year while turning more attention to free online content. Their Comment is Free section is one of the wildest and broadest editorial sites online and can get absolutely crazy.

[SalmonGod]

A nice bit of writing that's getting passed around.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

if you have never been to a demonstration, it is hard to image what "police action" looks like. as a young person marching against the first Gulf War, i wept with fear the first time i saw walls of police in riot gear, thinking this must be rare. on the night of the Rodney King verdict I stood in the street in Lower Manhattan in front of an upturned, burning police car feeling like the world was ending while listening to the news speak of a small, controlled demonstration. i stunned by the lie, which i now understand is the usual way. when i saw the police of my beloved San Francisco beating peaceful protestors with batons as the Iraq war broke out, i almost vomited.

this is real. this is happening all the time.

our history speaks proudly of the demonstrations of the past which brought us change for the better, of those who risked their lives to speak up against racism, against the Vietnam war. and yet in the moment so many good people just don't want to interrupt their busy day to understand what is happening, much less take part. and much of the media lies to us, and says the police arrested a few ruffians, and this is what we want to hear, and we roll along.

the web means it is harder for these lies to go unquestioned. you don't have to relay on corporate news to give you watered-down coverage intended to keep you calm and quiet any more. please pay attention. please speak up about what you believe, whatever that is.

yesterday's sudden, deeply violent attack by the police on what had been a peaceful protest at Occupy Oakland deserves your attention.

[Felius]

Regardless of the validity or lack thereof of the protester issues, all I can say is that the shitstorm the government is doing of it is certainly helping the protesters more than anything else. At the very least the current mayor just committed political suicide.

I'm generally suspicious of protesters, because of what I see happening in my country, and what I know about the organizers of such, but then again, it doesn't descend so far either.

[palsch]

3: 95% of the tents are empty at night according to police helicopter thermal imaging - confirmed by a protestor who gave a statement saying people have to travel home at night as "they live far away and have to feed thier cats"...

I know this is going back a bit, but this is nonsense.

The number came from a single counsellor who claims to have heard the figure (90%, not 95%) from a random officer on the street. The police stated that the figures did not come from them.

The Telegraph then claimed to have verified the figures themselves with their own cameras. Unfortunately, Telegraph journalists like early nights and filmed at 12:30 (what self respecting protester is in bed before 2AM?) and with cameras that... well, just look;

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[MonkeyHead]

All that is well and good, but doesnt explain the interveiw given on channel 4 by a protestor who confirmed that "many people" (her words...) left at night.