We include below a report from John Reimann a participant in the Oakland occupation from the beginning. Thank you John.
Sean.
It was clear early yesterday morning (around 3:00 a.m.) that the cops were massing and a police invasion was imminent. The occupiers started erecting "barricades" of wooden shipping pallets, trash cans, etc. around the occupied zone. Most of them - the young anarchists - also fashioned bandannas to hide their faces. People rushing around in the dark, rearranging barricades, their faces partially obscured. Almost all got caught up in the emotions of the moment. This included me to an extent, which is how I knew that others were also being caught up in the emotions.
It was extremely tense. I started walking around asking people what they were intending to do and whether fighting the cops really was wise. I expressed my view that there were only two instances where I thought one should fight them: If you simply have no other choice or if you think you can win. People agreed, but seemed reluctant to break the general flow.
In other words, there was not general and conscious plan.
At one point, a young black guy got into a loud shouting match with one of the young white anarchists. "Y'all aren't serious!" he shouted. He attacked them for their bandannas, saying this would just provoke the cops. Much of what he said was right, but he was very emotional in how he presented it. (Incidentally, unlike some others at previous events, he never attacked them for being white and not knowing about the cops.) I was standing some 20 feet away, just observing. I don't know why, but after several minutes he came over to me and started talking. I told him I agreed but that we were all under a lot of stress and it was important not to add to the stress. He immediately calmed down and we had a great conversation. I ran into him several times later in the day and now we're best buddies.
The cops arrived in a blitzkrieg and nearly surrounded the square literally in a matter of seconds. I have never seen such a massive show of force and I immediately decided that it was best to vacate the premises as quickly as possible. I and quite a few others found a corner of the square that wasn't blocked off and got out. We were quickly driven up the street to at least a block away. From that vantage point we saw all the police forces from the surrounding towns arriving. This included what looked like armored personnel carriers.
I wasn't able to see it, but the reports were that the cops used tear gas and percussion grenades before driving in and arresting those who refused to leave or couldn't get out in time. There is a report of one person with a broken hand.
Unfortunately, there was no plan to immediately regroup somewhere nearby so everybody more or less scattered. With the concentration of cops in the square, it would not have been all that difficult to conduct hit-and-run occupations of nearby street intersections. Later that morning, I went down to the other park that had been occupied. There were a few people - former occupiers - still there. There was also a clean-up crew from the City of Oakland. I went over to them and gave a little speech about how their pensions, etc. were under attack and how our occupation was also for them. This was completely unplanned and in retrospect I think I should have also commented that we know that in the past we, union members, have been too passive in allowing a select few to run our unions and how we can't afford to do that anymore and from there commented that we need to join together, that there should be a strike of all City of Oakland workers against what just happened and against the cuts in city workers wages and benefits.
Instead, as planned, we regrouped at 4:00 p.m. There were well over a 1,000 people there and the mood was very angry. Several speeches were given.
The rally and march was something of a let-down. At one point, a few cops got into a scuffle with the crowd. They had arrested a couple of people, for what reason i don't know. Some people spray painted the cops and things got pretty ugly. The cops started shooting off tear gas and the crowd retreated. Since the original writing of this report, I have received a report that an Iraq war veteran and member of the Iraq Vets Against the War was hit in the head with a rubber bullet. He's in the hospital with serious brain damage and the ultimate outcome is not positive.
The rest was somewhat of a let down. The crowd marching from one point to another, now confronting a line of cops, then retreating to march elsewhere. I finally went home, but reports on the news showed a crowd of maybe 3-400 continuning on until late into the night.
Something has changed, and there were some huge opportunities here - especially to link up with the City workers. It hasn't been done, and it may be too late for now, but it will inevitably happen. This evening there is to be a march of parents opposed to the closing of some schools and the occupiers will be participating. We'll see what happens.
Two general points should be made:
A couple of additional points:
1) A number of occupations were raided about the same time. I figure the word must have been put out by the tops of the Democratic Party that this movement was causing too many problems and focusing too much on Wall Street and it had to come to an end. This was coordinated from the very top of the Democratic Party, in my opinion.
2) The police presence in Oakland was more overwhelming than anything I've ever seen, including during Vietnam War protests in Berkeley in the '70s. I don't know what if anything happened to spark the use of tear gas and stun grenades, but they were clearly primed for that. I think that overall the strategists for US capitalism are watching events such as those in Greece and know that sooner or later there will be riots in the US and they are practicing for that. The night before last was such a practice.
John Reimann
It was extremely tense. I started walking around asking people what they were intending to do and whether fighting the cops really was wise. I expressed my view that there were only two instances where I thought one should fight them: If you simply have no other choice or if you think you can win. People agreed, but seemed reluctant to break the general flow.
In other words, there was not general and conscious plan.
At one point, a young black guy got into a loud shouting match with one of the young white anarchists. "Y'all aren't serious!" he shouted. He attacked them for their bandannas, saying this would just provoke the cops. Much of what he said was right, but he was very emotional in how he presented it. (Incidentally, unlike some others at previous events, he never attacked them for being white and not knowing about the cops.) I was standing some 20 feet away, just observing. I don't know why, but after several minutes he came over to me and started talking. I told him I agreed but that we were all under a lot of stress and it was important not to add to the stress. He immediately calmed down and we had a great conversation. I ran into him several times later in the day and now we're best buddies.
The cops arrived in a blitzkrieg and nearly surrounded the square literally in a matter of seconds. I have never seen such a massive show of force and I immediately decided that it was best to vacate the premises as quickly as possible. I and quite a few others found a corner of the square that wasn't blocked off and got out. We were quickly driven up the street to at least a block away. From that vantage point we saw all the police forces from the surrounding towns arriving. This included what looked like armored personnel carriers.
I wasn't able to see it, but the reports were that the cops used tear gas and percussion grenades before driving in and arresting those who refused to leave or couldn't get out in time. There is a report of one person with a broken hand.
Unfortunately, there was no plan to immediately regroup somewhere nearby so everybody more or less scattered. With the concentration of cops in the square, it would not have been all that difficult to conduct hit-and-run occupations of nearby street intersections. Later that morning, I went down to the other park that had been occupied. There were a few people - former occupiers - still there. There was also a clean-up crew from the City of Oakland. I went over to them and gave a little speech about how their pensions, etc. were under attack and how our occupation was also for them. This was completely unplanned and in retrospect I think I should have also commented that we know that in the past we, union members, have been too passive in allowing a select few to run our unions and how we can't afford to do that anymore and from there commented that we need to join together, that there should be a strike of all City of Oakland workers against what just happened and against the cuts in city workers wages and benefits.
Instead, as planned, we regrouped at 4:00 p.m. There were well over a 1,000 people there and the mood was very angry. Several speeches were given.
The rally and march was something of a let-down. At one point, a few cops got into a scuffle with the crowd. They had arrested a couple of people, for what reason i don't know. Some people spray painted the cops and things got pretty ugly. The cops started shooting off tear gas and the crowd retreated. Since the original writing of this report, I have received a report that an Iraq war veteran and member of the Iraq Vets Against the War was hit in the head with a rubber bullet. He's in the hospital with serious brain damage and the ultimate outcome is not positive.
The rest was somewhat of a let down. The crowd marching from one point to another, now confronting a line of cops, then retreating to march elsewhere. I finally went home, but reports on the news showed a crowd of maybe 3-400 continuning on until late into the night.
Something has changed, and there were some huge opportunities here - especially to link up with the City workers. It hasn't been done, and it may be too late for now, but it will inevitably happen. This evening there is to be a march of parents opposed to the closing of some schools and the occupiers will be participating. We'll see what happens.
Two general points should be made:
A couple of additional points:
1) A number of occupations were raided about the same time. I figure the word must have been put out by the tops of the Democratic Party that this movement was causing too many problems and focusing too much on Wall Street and it had to come to an end. This was coordinated from the very top of the Democratic Party, in my opinion.
2) The police presence in Oakland was more overwhelming than anything I've ever seen, including during Vietnam War protests in Berkeley in the '70s. I don't know what if anything happened to spark the use of tear gas and stun grenades, but they were clearly primed for that. I think that overall the strategists for US capitalism are watching events such as those in Greece and know that sooner or later there will be riots in the US and they are practicing for that. The night before last was such a practice.
John Reimann
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