First Name: Sean Current Event Posting Number: 1
Topic: Civil Rights
Title of Article: "Occupy Oakland: Police Teargas Protesters, Use Flash Grenades"
Author: Robin Wilkey
Publication Name: The Huffington Post (San Fransisco News)
Date of Publication: January 29, 2012
Length of Article: 530 Words/ 1 Page
Early Saturday mourning, Oakland Occupy protestors began a destructive march that was met by violence from the Oakland police department. The demonstrators assembled at a downtown plaza early Saturday mourning. The Protestors threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center, which police believed they would attempt to turn into a social center and political hub. The group then began disrupting traffic and marching in the street on their way to the Convention Center. The protestors reached the vacant convention center, and began tearing down perimeter fencing and construction equipment. The crowd had reached around 1,000 to 2,000 protestors strong, and was growing violent. Police arrived and issued a dispersal order that was ignored by the protestors. Police then proceeded to use tear gas and "flash" grenades against the protestors, after a group of demonstrators had pelted the police with bottles, rocks, burning flares, and other objects. Arrests were than made as protestors continued to ignore the dispersion order and assault officers. Shortly after, the bulk of the crowd left the vacant convention center and headed back downtown, where arrests were continuing to be made.
In conclusion, three Oakland police officers were injured and around 100 protestors were arrested during this Occupy display. Oakland police received heavy criticism for using force to break up Saturday's protest as well as previous marches. Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana responded to the event by saying "the city will not be bullied by threats of violence or illegal activities." Since the Occupy movement started late October, police have arrested over 300 people.
Personally, I find the Oakland polices actions to be completely justified. The Occupy protestors instigated the violence by throwing harmful objects at the police. In order to defend the city and the citizens, the police were forced to step in, and use necessary actions, which happened to include tear gas. I believe that the Occupy protestors should have every right to march and stand up against injustices in American society, but they will never be above the law when it comes to violence.
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ReplyDeleteI think that the actions of the Oakland police were not the right things to do, their decision to use teargas and flash grenades on the 1-2 thousand protestors in Oakland However, I think that before using teargas and flash grenades on the Henry Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, the local Oakland police should have tried more peaceful ways to disperse the crowd. Also, in my opinion, the police should have started to do this when they saw that the crowd became a problem and not after violence started taking place. However, I do believe that the arrests of the Oakland Police were justified, they had the right to arrest the protestors that were throwing rocks, bottles and miscellaneous objects; also the arrests were based on the ignoring of the dispersion order, which is another violation of the law.
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