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<h1><font size=4><b>Police Fire Tear Gas, Flash Grenades as Protesters
Try to Retake Occupy Oakland After Predawn
Raid</b></font></h1><font size=3>Oakland police repeatedly fired tear gas
and flash grenades Tuesday night as protesters attempted to retake the
Occupy Oakland encampment outside City Hallonly 12 hours after police
tore apart the camp and arrested more than 90 people in a pre-dawn raid.
Observers said that at times the downtown resembled a war zone last
night. Some protesters are being held on $10,000 bail. We speak to Rachel
Jackson of the Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality and State
Repression about how the police are handling Occupy Oakland. We also are
joined by John Avalos, San Francisco city supervisor and a candidate for
mayor of San Francisco. On Tuesday, Avalos introduced a resolution
supporting the right of the Occupy San Francisco protest to continue its
peaceful assembly in public spaces. [includes rush transcript]<br><br>
<b>
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/26/police_fire_tear_gas_flash_grenades" eudora="autourl">
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/26/police_fire_tear_gas_flash_grenades</a>
<br><br>
<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/rachel_jackson">Rachel
Jackson</a></b>, organizer with the Oscar Grant Committee Against Police
Brutality and State Repression. She has been a regular supporter of
Occupy Oakland. <br>
<b><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/john_avalos">John
Avalos</a></b>, San Francisco city supervisor and a candidate for mayor
of San Francisco <br><br>
<b>NERMEEN SHAIKH:</b> As we reported in headlines, Oakland police
repeatedly fired tear gas and flash grenades Tuesday night as protesters
attempted to retake the Occupy Oakland encampment outside City Hall.
Observers said that at times downtown resembled a war zone. The protest
began 12 hours after police raided the Occupy Oakland encampment and
arrested nearly a hundred protesters. The detained protesters are being
held on $10,000 bail.<br><br>
Here are some of the voices from last night’s demonstration.<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>PROTESTERS:</b> Whose streets? Our streets! Whose streets? Our
streets! Whose streets? Our streets!<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTER 1:</b> Dude!<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTER 2:</b> These people have tear-gassed us multiple times for
peacefully sitting and protesting.<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTERS:</b> The whole world is watching! The whole world is
watching!<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTER 3:</b> It was justit was so unjust, like nobody was really
doing anything that would justify tear gas.<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTERS:</b> Bakersfield, California! Occupy! Berkeley,
California! Occupy!<br><br>
<dd>OMAR:</b> I’m Omar. I was born and raised in Oakland. And basically,
we’re sick of corporate greed. That’s all it is. Sickness of corporate
greed.<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTER 4:</b> Everybody knows it’s not fair for two percent to own
50 percent of the wealth in this world. No matter what business school
you went to, if you didn’t learn that, you failed kindergarten.<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTER 5:</b> People are fed up, on all differenton multiple
levels, right? Like, through public education, all the resources that are
being cut, the fees that are going up. I think the wholethe economy. And
just there’s a lot of things that are culminating right now, so this is
just an extension of all that, and that’s where I’m coming from.<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTER 6:</b> People had a meeting over in front of the library at
4:00, and we decided that we wanted to come and take this park back. It’s
public land. We are the public of California. They’re here to protect and
serve us. And right now they’re not doing too good of a job.<br><br>
<dd>PROTESTER 7:</b> But we know we are here for a cause. And that cause,
it has to be achieved. There’s no way we’re going to go back. No way.
Nobody’s going to push us back. No way. The more you try to put us back,
the more we’ll come in large numbers.<br><br>
</dl>AMY GOODMAN:</b> Thanks to KPFA’s John Hamilton for some of those
voices in Oakland last night, where police repeatedly fired tear gas and
flash grenades at protesters upset that police had cleared the Occupy
encampment in front of City Hall Monday morning. Earlier in the day,
Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan defended the use of force to break up
the camp.<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>INTERIM POLICE CHIEF HOWARD JORDAN:</b> The decision to move was
based on public health and safety, due to defecation, fire hazards,
sexual assault incidents, violent behavior, and the denial of access of
medical aid.<br><br>
</dl>AMY GOODMAN:</b> We’re joined right now in Berkeley at the
University of California, Berkeley’s TV studios by Rachel Jackson. She is
with the Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality and State
Repression. She’s been helping to organize Occupy Oakland.<br><br>
We’re also joined by John Avalos. He is the San Francisco city supervisor
and candidate for mayor of San Francisco. On Tuesday, John Avalos
introduced a resolution supporting the right of Occupy San Francisco
protest to continue its peaceful assembly on Market Street and other
public spaces, like Justin Herman Plaza.<br><br>
Rachel Jackson, John Avalos, welcome to Democracy Now!</i> Rachel, let’s
start with you. What happened over these last 24 hours? And also, your
group is called the Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality and
State Repression. They’ve also named the plaza outside City Hall the
Oscar Grant Plaza. Explain why.<br><br>
RACHEL JACKSON:</b> Yes, Amy. First of all, I just want to clarify really
quickly that I’m not one of the organizers but have been a supporter and
a participant and was one of many of the people who were doingwere
signed on to do emergency response when the eviction time came. The
significance of calling the square Oscar Grant Plaza hasit’s sort
ofit’s twofold. One is in memory of Oscar Grant and all of the young men
who were attacked by BART police, and Oscar had been murdered by the BART
police in 2009. But also, really<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> This was the famous image that was caught on videotape.
Explain to our listeners and viewers around the country and around the
world.<br><br>
RACHEL JACKSON:</b> Sure. So, basically, a group of young people, and
young men, were traveling home from just being out partying in San
Francisco on New Year’s Eve of 2009, and they headed home, in fact,
becausethey headed home from San Francisco to the East Bay in part
because they were afraid that things were going to get too rowdy in the
city. And because people were concerned about drunk driving and so on,
the young people took BART. And sadly, it was a fateful decision, because
in trying to do the right thing, what ended up happening is, is that they
were basically racially profiled, attacked by police officers, and Oscar
Grant was shot in the back at almost point-blank range while he was
subdued on his stomach with his hands behind his back.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> And so, your committee was formed.<br><br>
RACHEL JACKSON:</b> And yes, it was one of many things. And for a lot of
us here, I mean, part of what has been so significant isyou know, about
this past two weeks, is that it’s sort of ait’s a confluence or sort of
a perfect storm of people coming together and timing. And really, the
naming is part of also like a celebration of Oscar Grant and the fact
that we have actually been able to hold 14th and Broadway, and really,
afteryou know, for three years of being run out of the plaza, being
subjected to martial law during Operation Verdict in Oakland, when
Mehserlethe Mehserle verdict came in, and then Operation Sentencing in
November, when Mehserle was sentenced.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> The officer.<br><br>
RACHEL JACKSON:</b> There have been these huge mobilizations,
unprecedented mobilizationsmilitary, mutual aid mobilizations, with law
enforcement from all over the state and Homeland Security, and the list
goes on. And, you know, we’ve continued to assert our right to be at 14th
and Broadway and be in the plaza, and, you know, we have fought for that
space as part of Oakland’s development politically and its maturation
politically.<br><br>
And last night, whenreally, like 12 hours ago, whenfor one of the few
times in, I’m sure, many people’s lives, when people chanted, "Whose
streets? Our streets!" and "When Oakland is under attack, what
do we do? Stand up, fight back!" that that was real, and thatyou
know, the night24 hours ago, that started with the 5:00 a.m. pre-dawn
vicious raid by the police on the campers at Occupy Oakland, what started
with the protesters being chased and on the defensive and scattered, in
12 hours, by 5:00 or 6:00 in the evening, when people learned of the
early morning raid, by 5:00 or 6:00 yesterday evening, the tables had
completely turned, and the initiative was with the people of the Bay Area
and the people of Oakland. And really the police, despite having
beenhaving had their huge arsenal of weapons and so on, they ended up on
the defensive. And really, really, the marches and activities that went
on yesterday, they were not over until we said that they were over, until
the people decided it was time to go home.<br><br>
And in the next period, we want to be clear, and clear to Mayor Quan and
anybody else who’s involved in the decision-making process, we want the
camp back. We want the camp back. We want everyone’s stuff back. We want
charges dropped against protesters and an end to martial law in
Oakland.<br><br>
NERMEEN SHAIKH:</b> Rachel Jackson, can you say a little bit about why
did the police decide to strike yesterday in the morning at 5:00 a.m.?
What prompted that?<br><br>
RACHEL JACKSON:</b> Well, it’s an interesting question around who makes
these decisions. In some ways, there’s clearlythere are clearly tensions
here in Oakland between the Police Department and law enforcement, on the
one hand, and the Jean Quan, the mayor’s office, on the other, with Chief
Batts stepping down just days ago or a week ago, and in part because he
felt like he didn’t have the tools, frankly, of repression and racial
profiling that he wanted, such as youth curfews, gang injunctions and
anti-loitering laws. On the one hand, we had a disgruntled chief who
stepped down, who felt like he didn’t have enough of an arsenal here and
felt that the mayor wasn’t giving him what he needed, on the other hand,
and then, you know, on the other hand, we have the mayor, who basically
was missing in action. And so, you know, there’s these power plays, these
power dynamics, that are going on.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> The police chief referred tothe police chief referred
to some kind of sexual assault?<br><br>
RACHEL JACKSON:</b> That wasthat was basically like the WMDs of our
struggle here, has beenhas been ratsrats, sexual assault and drug use.
And that’s why I say that it’s interesting to think about the
decision-making process, because while clearly there are individuals who
are making certain decisions, it’swe have to look at, and be suspicious
of, the fact that many of the camps all got attacked at the same time and
really largely for the same reasons.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> John Avalos, you’re a San Francisco city supervisor.
You’re trying to guarantee that Occupy San Francisco doesn’t meet the
same fate. Explain what you’re doing.<br><br>
JOHN AVALOS:</b> Well, yesterday I introduced a resolution, co-sponsored
by three other supervisors, to call on the mayor and the Police
Department to cooperate and collaborate with the Occupy movement and
Occupy SF movement. And in my mind, the occupation, in and of itself, is
the right to assembly and free speech, so you can’tI would say our
constitutional rights would trump any law we have here at the local
level. And what the Occupy movement is about is certainly something
greater than the need to contain public space, and I support it.<br><br>
The resolution calls for the departmentsthe Police Department, the
Department of Public Health and the Rec and Park Departmentthe main
departments that are in confluence with the Occupy movement protesters,
to work collaboratively on sharing space and providing resources that
could benefit the movement staying in its current space or find another
space where they can occupy.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> And talk about whatwhy people are occupying, John
Avalos, and what the issues you feel must be protected, and this whole
issue of "We are the 99 percent," which has become the mantra,
and what you feel needs to be done to protect them.<br><br>
JOHN AVALOS:</b> Well, sure, thank you. I actually represent a part of
San Francisco that has a high rate of foreclosure, the 94112 zip code and
as well as Bayview-Hunters Point and Visitacion Valley. And my part of
San Francisco has a really high level of foreclosure. A lot of households
are working-class, middle-class households that werea lot of them were
taken by the subprime loan-lending crisis. And they’re now losing their
wealth, which is in their homes. A lot of them are dealing with high
unemployment. We have the highest unemployment rate in San Francisco.
It’s about 9.7 percent in San Francisco, but much higher in our
communities. In communities of color, African-American community and
Latino community, it’s much higher. A lot of people are disaffected. We
have a lot ofwe have high homelessness of families. Often homelessness
gets targeted as single adults in San Francisco, but we have families
that are on our waiting list for homeless services, for housing, for
emergency housing. That’s a crisis that’s rising. And so, we have a lot
of people who are very frustrated with the conditions that they are
living in. We are living in conditions that have not received the
bailout, the respite from the federal government that we had expected
would come with the bailout of the banks in this country.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> John Avalos, this issue of the banks and foreclosures,
the San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has weighed such a move,
including supporting not only the Occupy San Francisco encampment, but
urging adoption of policies that would prompt big banks into modifying
mortgages. How can the Board of Supervisors do this?<br><br>
JOHN AVALOS:</b> Well, currently, I’ve called for a study on creation of
our own municipal bank here in San Francisco. And we haveour budget is
$6.8 billion. And every year we actually, totally beyond our budget, with
the school district and city college district, we have a $12 billion
budget that goes through financial institutions in the Bay Area and
around the country. And if we had a way to leverage our pocketbook to get
the banks to be more accountable to supporting small businesses or to
help households to avoid defaults through loan modifications or to
underwriteto write down the mortgages to the current property value of
households that are underwater, we could pump more money into the local
economy, we can create more jobs. That’s the idea behind it. So we’re
looking at, you know, long term, the creation of a municipal bank, but in
the short term, can wedo we have any leverage points on the local and
banking institutions, either through divestment of our dollars into other
institutions, community financial what are they called? community
development financial institutions or credit unions that will help us
more readily here at the local level?<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> John Avalos, I want to thank you for being with us, San
Francisco city supervisor<br><br>
JOHN AVALOS:</b> Thank you.<br><br>
AMY GOODMAN:</b> and Rachel Jackson, with the Oscar Grant Committee
Against Police Brutality and State Repression. Of course, we will
continue to follow what’s happening at Occupy Oakland and Occupy San
Francisco, at Occupy Chicago, Occupy New York. And we’ll talk about
what’s happening all over the country, as we continue to follow what the
issues are that are being raised and how the state is dealing with those
issues.<br><br>
This is Democracy Now!</i>, democracynow.org, The War and Peace
Report</i>. When we come back, Glenn Greenwald has written a new book.
It’s called With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law is Used to
Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful</i>. Stay with us.<br><br>
<br><br>
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