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Thursday, October 27, 2011
News Police violence against an Iraq veteran at a California Occupy site is under review
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn on Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 9:37 AM
At the Occupy Charlotte camp yesterday, the brutal events at an Occupy site some 3,000 miles away was a frequent topic of discussion.
You've probably heard by now that in Oakland, Calif., police had a bloody run-in with protesters following a local government decision to remove people from a public park. Those people, it should be pointed out, were American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights. When they refused to stop exercising those rights, police donned riot gear and attacked them with tear gas and "bean bags" filled with rubber bullets.
During the altercation, a young man was hit in the head with a projectile police had thrown at the group. The man's name is Scott Olsen. He's 24. He served two tours of duty in Iraq. Oslen's skull was fractured here in the United States, though. By officers of the law. As of this writing, Olsen was in the hospital in critical condition.
Here's a video of Olsen on the ground, his fellow Occupiers rushing to his aide as police lob another projectile toward them:
From The Guardian:
Oakland's independent police review body will examine the clashes between riot officers and protesters that left an Iraq war veteran in a critical condition as Occupy protestors prepare to rally at the same spot for a third night of protests.Police battled protesters following an Occupy Oakland march to demonstrate against the closing of two occupations in the city in the early hours of Tuesday morning. More than 100 people have been arrested in Oakland since police cleared a camp in Frank Ogawa plaza.
Scott Olsen, 24, suffered a fractured skull and brain swelling after he was allegedly hit in the head by a police projectile during the clashes on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Highland hospital in east Oakland confirmed he was critically ill after being admitted on Tuesday night.
A source at the Oakland citizen's police review board said it had not yet received a formal complaint, but would be "looking into" the circumstances surrounding Olsen's injuries. The board will decide whether to launch an official investigation over the next couple of days.
Jay Finneburgh, an activist photographer who was at the protest, published pictures of Olsen lying bloodied on the ground, while video footage appeared to show police throwing a 'flash bang' explosive close to fellow protesters trying to provide aid.
"[Olsen] stood behind me," Finneburgh told the Guardian. "I looked to my left and he hit the ground, and he hit it hard.
Read the rest of this article, by Adam Gabbatt, here.
In a The New York Times story today about the country-wide crack down trend, there's a claim that the Oakland protestors threw rocks at the police. Of course, there's also the claim that the group was infiltrated by those who "were anarchists or others with simply with a taste for mayhem." Read that story here.
Meanwhile, in Charlotte ... stay tuned for more in-depth coverage on the currently peaceful Occupy Charlotte from Creative Loafing. For now, we'll share a couple of documents with you that they shared with us yesterday, neither of which are signed by the group but both of which are available at their information desk at 600 E. Trade St.
1) "The Basic Theme of our Message"PDF
2) "We Must Endure"PDF
Speaking of...
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