MEDIA ROOTS — On Monday, November 14, 2011, Abby Martin of Media Roots went to Occupy Oakland (OO) at 4 am to cover the second police state raid on the peaceful OO encampment. Under direct orders from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, over 500 riot cops in another coordinated, increasingly fascistic, multi-police agency operation stormed the peaceful OO encampment at Oscar Grant Plaza (aka Frank Ogawa Plaza) in an attempt to crush the OO movement once and for all.
Mayor Quan’s legal adviser resigned at 2 am in protest to the heavy police repression at OO. Quan’s Deputy Mayor also resigned in protest a few hours later.
Media Roots documents the intensity in the air leading up to the police raid, as the peaceful protesters brace themselves for another show of force by the heavily militarised riot platoons. This footage evidences the insane level of militarised police presence, which showed up to crackdown and destroy the camp in yesterday’s predawn raid.
Meanwhile, similar raids occurred this weekend with mass arrests against Occupy Movement encampments across the nation. This morning in another predawn raid, Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park in NYC was ordered cleared under the pretext of sanitation concerns. Mass arrests were carried out at OWS, involving police beating arrestees with batons and the use of pepper spray. And now, OWS protesters have been told they will not be allowed to return with tents or tarps as the winter chill approaches.
One may wonder if notions of America, land of the free, still carry any meaning in Obama’s post-P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act/anti-First Amendment political climate. If they do anywhere in the U.S., it’s at the fiercely idealistic Occupy encampments across the nation.
Messina
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Abby Martin of Media Roots covers the latest police state raid against Occupy Oakland.
