October 26, 2011 | 2:47 PM | By

Occupy Oakland: gas, beanbags, flash-bang grenades thrown at crowd

FILED UNDER: Police, Oakland, Occupy Oakland

Tear gas, concussion grenades and less-lethal munitions were fired on a march of at least 1,000 people in downtown Oakland last night who were in an uproar over the forcible eviction of the Occupy Oakland encampment early yesterday morning. As of late last night, Oakland Police say they arrested 102 people–97 at the encampment eviction and 5 later on in the day. Some of those arrested were released from the North County and Santa Rita jails last night while chaos erupted on the streets.

The crowd swelled to almost 2,000 at one point as it wound its way through downtown Oakland from police headquarters at 7th Street, where demonstrators clashed with police and five people were taken into custody. At several points in the evening, the crowd faced off against an array of officers from the Oakland Police Department, San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, California Highway Patrol and Palo Alto Police Department. Seventeen  law enforcement agencies in total were called out for the mutual aid response yesterday. Oakland Police did not respond to queries about the cost of the mutual aid operation, but similar call-outs for Oscar Grant protests last fall cost around $500,000 in logistics and police overtime.

Several protesters are reportedly receiving medical attention at Highland Hospital in the wake of clashes with riot police. Among them is Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Marine Corps veteran and a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, was struck in the head with either a tear gas canister or a less-lethal round. Olsen served two tours in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace. He is reportedly in critical condition at Highland Hospital with a skull fracture and swelling of the brain

Protesters kept returning to the police line despite at least five volleys of concussion grenades, tear gas and less-lethal projectiles. Another rally is expected at 6 PM at 14th and Broadway later today.

 

  • Guest

    Is Marine Scott Olson related to Rebecca Olson, family attorney and related by marriage to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, neurosurgeon?

  • Eightdigit

    I believe that in the last picture the Palo Alto Police officer is actually firing paintballs. These were being used to “tag” the more “troublesome” protesters for later apprehension and arrest. The baton rounds and “rubber bullet” rounds are generally fired from 12g/10g riot guns.

  • Guest

    Battle for Occupy Oakland – Palo Alto PD Attack Indybay Reporter, 10/25/11: video & photos http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/02/18696657.php

  • Peter Hogness

    As a graduate of the Palo Alto schools, I’m glad to have received an education that encouraged critical thinking and asking questions.  So I am surprised and disappointed that the actions of Palo Alto police in Oakland have not sparked more public controversy, or even curiosity.  Perhaps it just hasn’t been well reported, or perhaps there’s widespread discontent with these actions among Palo Alto residents, but they have yet to voice it in a clear & effective way.  (That’s very possible– of 230 people who’ve so far responded to a “poll” question on the Palo Alto Patch website, about 80% disapprove of the use of Palo Alto police against Occupy Oakland demonstrators.)  

    I would like to know:
    ** Is it Palo Alto city policy to assist in police action against citizens in other cities who are exercising their First Amendment rights?  
    ** Do Palo Alto’s elected officials exercise any advance oversight or control of the use of Palo Alto police against political protest in other jurisdictions?
    ** Why has the Palo Alto Police Department refused to provide basic information about its deployment in Oakland, including the number and type of projectiles fired, the cost of the operation, and exactly who authorized it?

    I hope that Palo Alto residents will demand some answers.

    _____________________________________

    Some have asked whether Palo Alto police may have fired the projectile that injured Scott Olsen.  The answer isn’t clear from press reports to date– but appears possible.  Here’s a summary:

    People who posted video of Olsen getting hit on YouTube stated that the “less than lethal round” that hit Olsen was “fired by either San Francisco Sheriffs deputies or Palo Alto Police.”:
            http://boingboing.net/2011/10/26/police-raid-on-occupy-oakland-the-morning-after.html
    (among other links)

    Crime reporter Ali Winston, of public radio station KALW, posted this photo of Palo Alto Police firing “less-than-lethal” rounds the night Olsen was hit:
            http://informant.kalwnews.org/2011/10/massive-protest-clashes-with-riot-police-in-oakland-gas-beanbags-flash-bang-grenades-thrown-at-crowd/#11
            [11th photo in still-image slideshow; slideshow comes after several video links]
    Winston says the Palo Alto officer was firing at a man standing at 14th and Broadway, which is where Scott Olsen was hit (see http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/27/iraq_war_vet_hospitalized_with_fractured).

    A Palo Alto Daily News report (in both online & print editions) quotes PAPD spokesperson Sgt. Kara Apple as confirming that Palo Alto Police did use CS gas that night. In this report, Apple maintains that PAPD uses CS canisters that are deployed by hand:
            http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=23012
    However, a report on Palo Alto Patch quotes Sgt. Apple as saying that, “We did fire CS gas, yes.”
            http://paloalto.patch.com/articles/palo-alto-cops-back-oakland-police-against-occupy-protestors
            On the surface, the word “fire” does not seem consistent with the assertion that all CS gas used by PAPD that night was “manually deployed” (as the PA Daily News put it, in paraphrasing Sgt. Apple). I could not find any news coverage in which PAPD or Palo Alto city officials were asked about this apparent contradiction.

    In response to questions from the New York Times, Palo Alto police refused to comment on the projectile fired by the PAPD officer, and instead referred all questions to the Oakland Police:
            http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/police-tactics-questioned-in-oakland-protest/
    I have not seen any other news reports in which PAPD or Palo Alto city officials were asked about what the Palo Alto police officer in Winston’s photo is firing, or why. (That’s assuming the officers’ city was correctly identified by Winston, as the photo is not very clear. But Winston appears to be a careful reporter, and was close enough to correctly identify these officers’ uniforms. The NY Times cited Winston’s coverage on the Palo Alto police role.)

    The Stanford Daily reports that, according to PAPD Sgt. Apple, in addition to CS gas canisters, Palo Alto “officers deployed ‘pepper ball’ ammunition – less-than-lethal rounds loaded with pepper spray – against protesters.”
            http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/11/04/the-occupy-movement-moves-to-stanford/
    According to the New York Times, the use of such munitions by Palo Alto police and others in Oakland appears to have been in direct violation of the Oakland PD’s own policies on the use of such projectiles:
            http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/police-tactics-questioned-in-oakland-protest/
    “There was no basis whatsoever for using this technology,” Brooklyn College sociologist Alex Vitale, an expert in police crowd control tactics, told the Times.

    Indybay reporter Dave Id writes that Palo Alto police fired pepperballs directly at him on the night of October 25, while he was filming their use of pepperballs against a demonstrator:
            http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/11/02/18696657.php
    This report also describes the pepperballs’ effect.

    To answer whether Palo Alto police fired the projectile that fractured Scott Olsen’s skull, it would help to have a complete list of what projectiles PA police fired while in Oakland, and on what authority. The website Palo Alto Free Press posted the PAPD’s response to a freedom of information request which, among other things, asked the department for a “list of all tactical equipment used during this operation.” PAPD refused to give an answer, responding, “Records of intelligence information or security procedures of a local police agency are exempt from disclosure pursuant to Government Code section 6254(f). There are no non-exempt records that contain this information.”
            http://paloaltofreepress.com/palo-alto-police-departments-confusing-oakland-occupy-disclosure/
    The PA Free Press information request is very detailed, but PAPD provides little information in response; for example, the department also refuses to disclose the cost of the salaries for the Palo Alto officers deployed in Oakland. Unfortunately, PA Free Press’s reporting on this issue is not very coherent.

    Palo Alto Police Chief Dennis Burns speculated to the Oakland Tribune that Scott Olsen was likely “struck by something thrown by a demonstrator”:
            http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_19205555
    No evidence has been offered to support this idea, and neither Chief Burns nor anyone else seem to have repeated it since. While online video does not show the moment when Olsen got hit, witnesses who were close to him say that they saw he was injured right after police fired a barrage of tear-gas canisters and concussion grenades:
            http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/27/iraq_war_vet_hospitalized_with_fractured

    Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan asserted that, “We had to deploy gas to stop people from throwing rocks and bottles at police,” a claim repeated by PAPD Sgt. Apple (see Palo Alto Patch report above). However, little evidence has been produced to support this charge. In several online videos, protesters are seen to throw a few tear gas canisters back toward police. While it’s quite possible that some protesters threw other objects at police, this appears to pale in comparison with the scale of the assault on the demonstration by Oakland PD, Palo Alto PD, and other forces. Jordan’s and Apple’s claims that police had no alternative is at odds with the NY Times’s report that the way that less-than-lethal munitions and CS gas canisters were used was in violation of Oakland PD’s own crowd-control policies.

    Of course, these questions would not arise if Palo Alto police had not been in Oakland in the first place. The Palo Alto Patch report above indicates that Palo Alto police decided on their own to respond to the Oakland PD’s request for assistance in October, without seeking approval from any civilian official.