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Mayor Jean Quan wants OWS to disown Occupy Oakland

Published: 31 January, 2012, 05:13

Occupy Oakland demonstrators shield themselves during a confrontation with the police in Oakland (Reuters / Stephen Lam)

Occupy Oakland demonstrators shield themselves during a confrontation with the police in Oakland (Reuters / Stephen Lam)

TAGS: Protest, USA


In Oakland, California where the Occupy Wall Street movement has spawned a series of intense demonstrations, Mayor Jean Quan has run out of ways to try and put out the flames of the fiery protests.

As Occupy Wall Street shows no signs of slowing down — and some say Saturday’s march in Oakland only added momentum to the movement after hundreds were arrested — Mayor Quan continues to be clueless on how to handle the demonstrations. Now the city leader is appealing to other Occupy movements across the country to disown Occupy Oakland in hopes of finally extinguishing the demonstrations that have scarred her administration due to overzealous arrests and the repeated firing of projectiles at peaceful protesters.

On Saturday, around 400 Occupy Oakland protesters were arrested by the OPD after a march through the city turned violent. For hours, police fired tear-gas and non-lethal projectiles into crowds of protesters, kettled demonstrators with nets and issued massive arrests on as many occupiers as they could. The aftermath, specifically the tally of arrests, were picked up by the mainstream media. Even before the weekend’s incident, however, Mayor Quan told a local television station that she was sick and tired of the movement. As opponents of her administration continue to call her out on her lackluster handling of the demonstration, Quan says she will call on other Occupy movements to help calm the protests in Oakland.

"I plan to call some of the national leadership of Occupy this week to say that the Oakland group is not nonviolent and has not agreed to be nonviolent," Quan tells KCBS. "The national Occupy movement has said they are nonviolent."

Unfortunately for Mayor Quan, the national Occupy movement has by-and-large agreed (and insisted) several times that they are leaderless, so she might have a hard time trying to track them down.

Also according to the mayor, ongoing protests in Oakland have caused millions of dollars to the city by forcing her to up police presence to monitor the demonstrations. As her popularity wanes and she tries to find ways to salvage her administration, Quan tells KCBS that the protests are drying up the city’s funds. In addition to alleged acts of violence, Quan adds that the city is financially being ravaged due to her attempts to handle the movement.

"What they are doing against the city economically is not nonviolent either," she says. "Every Saturday they are doing demonstrations and in my city that is my night of highest police need. They are taking away resources from my city and creating a situation that is making it more difficult for me to keep the city safer."

As the protests continue, many occupiers have said that the city has been the one acting violently. In the early days of Occupy Oakland, an Iraq War veteran was critically injured after being hit in the skull by a police-fired projectile. On Saturday’s march, law enforcement once again fired ammo into crowds of protesters and were videotaped swinging batons at protesters and journalists alike. As demonstrators declare their intentions with chants of “this is a peaceful protest,” Mayor Quan sees it from another side.

When KQED-TV reporter Scott Shafer compared the opposition to her administration with that of other California mayors who have handled Occupy protests differently, Quan called it a game of media misrepresentation. “I think it is how the media plays it,” says Quan.

Also to blame, she says, is “probably a little misogyny and a little racism.” When Shafer quizzed Quan on if she, an Asian woman, felt like she was being attacked for her background, she said she had to change her Facebook settings to keep from seeing inappropriate content directed towards her.

While insisting that the media has turned her into a terrorist by calling in throngs of cops to crush protesters, Mayor Quan at the same time says that the movement is using the mainstream media to pick up steam. "One of the problems is that the Occupy demonstrators have decided that Oakland is their one and only playground and target," she tells KCBS. "It is because of their tactics that this group is getting smaller and smaller, they are trying to get national publicity on this."


While publicity has indeed been bestowed on Occupy Oakland, the movement has far from been squished. While demonstrations have been diminishing in size, they are still occurring across the country and the world. Only one day after Saturday’s march in her own city spurred outrage, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in both Chicago and New York to show solidarity. On Monday, hundreds flocked to two separate sites in the nation’s capital to support Occupy DC.

+10 (13 votes)
 
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ample waters February 02, 2012, 10:36
-1

well Jane... this is why its called an "occupation" rather than a "cooperation".  Wake up.  This OAKLAND.  Things will get worse there before they get better.  I just wonder how much of this is orchestrated, though.  to say occupy has no leaders would be a lie.  They certainly have agitators that have showed up in many cities in numerous video analysis efforts.  Call them "agent provacateurs".  Whenever I say something like this, though, everyone calls me names.  WAKE UP AMERICA.  This is al theater and you are the actors.  you are being directed and manipulated.  someone is going to profit big when we start fighting each other.  did you see whats going on in Occupies MODEL country today.  They are slaughtering each other now at soccer matches.  Christ...

billy (unregistered) wrote in #10

Can anyone tell me for sure that the source of the violence was indeed the core OWS group, and not the Black Bloc guys I saw on YouTube causing all of the damage...?Btw...thanks Mayor for letting OWS know that Saturday is your sweet spot.  Maybe OWS should tie up ALL of the city's police time getting arrested for non-violent protests on Saturdays instead of letting 5-0 generate revenue for the state - I MEAN KEEP THE STREETS SAFE!


billy (unregistered) wrote in #10

Can anyone tell me for sure that the source of the violence was indeed the core OWS group, and not the Black Bloc guys I saw on YouTube causing all of the damage...?
Btw...thanks Mayor for letting OWS know that Saturday is your sweet spot.  Maybe OWS should tie up ALL of the city's police time getting arrested for non-violent protests on Saturdays instead of letting 5-0 generate revenue for the state - I MEAN KEEP THE STREETS SAFE!


billy (unregistered) wrote in #10

Can anyone tell me for sure that the source of the violence was indeed the core OWS group, and not the Black Bloc guys I saw on YouTube causing all of the damage...?
Btw...thanks Mayor for letting OWS know that Saturday is your sweet spot.  Maybe OWS should tie up ALL of the city's police time getting arrested for non-violent protests on Saturdays instead of letting 5-0 generate revenue for the state - I MEAN KEEP THE STREETS SAFE!


Happy Degrowth is the option February 01, 2012, 09:09
+15

The point is: we get it, and we care. Oakland is your playground, not ours. It doesn’t matter that the vast majority of your population lives under a death-decree of inequality and impoverishment in an economic system so nakedly devoted to exploitation that it hasn’t even got an “American Dream” to offer us anymore. No, we’ve long since understood that the playground belongs to the elite and their poodles and to hell with anyone else who tries to get a turn on the seesaw. As for the scores of occupiers still locked up after Saturday’s protests: well, we can’t say we didn’t see it coming. After all, that’s what you get for stepping out out of line: People stomp on your toes, steal your lunch, and push you to the ground—with the aid of batons, riot gear, tear gas, smoke bombs, rubber bullets, bean bags, flash-bang grenades, motorcycles, a tank (no kidding), helicopters, and a culture of corruption so pervasive as to warrant federal receivership.

 

We're coming to the end now, but please don’t think we’re being glib—Far from it! In fact, you’ve given us a lot to think about. After all, New York is no less a playground than your Oakland; the stakes of Occupy do seem bigger than the Zuccotti merry-go-round… Yes, we see your point: you’re telling us—“Get serious! This isn’t just about fun and games and happy feelings. This is about fundamentally remaking the city around us, starting with our subservience to capitalism and the state. In fact, there's a wholly different city waiting to be born: an Occupied city. It’s within our reach!”

 

We couldn’t agree more. Thank you so much for getting in touch with us, Mayor Quan. You’ve really put things in perspective.

 

Yours forever,

Occupy Wall Street

Sexy n Texas February 01, 2012, 04:06
0

Just hippies trying to feel useful.  Oakland is near Berkely, and all the hippies live there.