This article needs to be updated.(June 2014) |
The Occupy movement has been met with a variety of responses from local police departments since its beginning in 2011. According to documents obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, [1] the FBI, state and local law enforcement officials treated the movement as a potential criminal and terrorist threat [2] and used fusion centers [3] and counterterrorism agents to investigate and monitor the Occupy movement. [4]
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Footage of first incident | |
Footage of the second incident |
At least 80 arrests were made on September 24, [5] Videos which showed several penned-in female demonstrators being hit with pepper spray by a police official were widely disseminated, sparking controversy. [6] That police official was identified as Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. After an investigation, Deputy Inspector Bologna, who makes an annual salary of $154,000, was transferred to a different station, and lost two weeks vacation time over the incident. [7]
Public attention to the pepper-sprayings resulted in a spike of news media coverage, a pattern that was to be repeated in the coming weeks following confrontations with police. [8] Clyde Haberman described the resultant public attention as a "big boost" that was "vital" for the still nascent Occupy movement. [9] [10]
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"Occupy Oakland video: Riot police fire tear gas, flashbang grenades." Oakland police fire tear gas against protesters. Oct. 25. Scott Olsen can be seen being evacuated at :58—1:23. [11] | |
"Occupy Oakland video: Interview with Scott Olsen About His Injury from the Police Attack on October 25th, 2011." Scott Olsen discusses the events of Oct 25, his injuries, and the Oakland police department investigation [12] |
On October 25, 2011, Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old Iraq War veteran suffered a skull fracture caused by a projectile that witnesses believed was a tear gas or smoke canister fired by the police. [13] [14] A video by protesters shows the explosion of what appears to be a flash-bang device thrown by one officer near protesters attempting to aid Olsen. [15] The Associated Press later reported that it was not known exactly what kind of object had struck Olsen or who had thrown or fired it, but that protesters had been throwing rocks and bottles. [16] Olsen was rushed to the hospital by other protesters, who were fired upon with unknown police projectiles while attempting to aid him. [17] Doctors said that he was in critical condition. Scott Olsen has since undergone brain surgery. At least two other protesters were injured. No officers have been disciplined over the incident. [18]
The American Civil Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild called for an investigation into the use of excessive force. [19]
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"Shot by police with rubber bullet at Occupy Oakland" |
Shortly before 1 am on November 3, Oakland resident Scott Campbell was shot by police using a less-lethal round while he was filming a stationary line of police in riot gear, hours after the 2011 Oakland general strike. The apparently unprovoked shooting was documented by the resulting point-of-view video from Campbell's own camera. [20]
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"Iraq war veteran Kayvan Sabehgi beaten by a police officer" |
Kayvan Sabeghi, a 32-year-old local business owner and former U.S. Army Ranger, was hit with a baton numerous times by a police officer then arrested on the evening of November 2, 2011. [21] While in police custody, he complained of severe pain and asked for medical treatment but was transferred to a hospital only after 14–18 hours of imprisonment. Sabeghi underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen and remained in the intensive care unit. [21] [22]
Susie Cagle, a journalist, was arrested while wearing an Alternet press badge at the protests and was detained for 14 hours. [23]
On the November 2 protests, Officer John Hargraves was filmed having placed black tape over his name on his police uniform. When questioned by a civilian, Officer Hargraves refused to respond. The civilian then spoke with Lt. Clifford Wong, one of several nearby officers. Lt. Wong approached Officer Hargraves and silently removed the tape from the officer's uniform.
Internal Affairs Division learned of the events on November 4 and began an investigation."Deliberate concealment of a badge or name plate" is a Class I offense, the most serious classification. As a result, Officer Hargraves was ordered suspended for 30 days, but has remained on the job pending a disciplinary appeal. "Failure to report others who commit any Class I offense" is also a Class I Offense. Lt. Wong was demoted to the rank of Sergeant. [24]
In January 2012, a US District Court described the events as "the most serious level of misconduct" and noted that it is a crime for officers to conceal their names or badge numbers. [25] [26] The District Court is considering further sanctions against the involved officers.
Additionally, the District Court has stripped the Oakland Police Department of some of its independence, with a potential eye towards placing the Oakland Police under the control of a federal receivership. [27]
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Police response to Occupy Cal protesters, Nov 9 |
On November 9, 2011, students and professors at UC Berkeley participated in a series of "teach-outs" around campus, a noon rally and march. Approximately 1,500 demonstrators attended the days' events. [28] The march route included a Bank of America location adjacent to campus. Not long after demonstrators set up seven tents in front of Upper Sproul Plaza in the mid-afternoon, law enforcement officials from UC Berkeley Police, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and other UC Police officers in riot gear arrived to remove the tents. [29] [30] Protesters linked arms to form a human chain in front of the tents to prevent officers from dismantling the encampment. Police used 36-inch riot batons to "jab" and push back the protesters and to break the human chain. [28]
Video footage of the afternoon confrontation shows police using batons and dragging two protesters by the hair, one of whom was UC Berkeley English professor Celeste Langan. [31] [32] 39 protesters, including Professor Langan, were arrested for charges including "resisting and delaying a police officer in the performance of their duties and failure to disperse when given a dispersal order." [33] Robert Hass, a UC Berkeley professor of poetry and former United States Poet Laureate, wrote about the police response in a November 19 New York Times opinion piece entitled "Poet-Bashing Police":
the deputies in the cordon surged forward and, using their clubs as battering rams, began to hammer at the bodies of the line of students. It was stunning to see. They swung hard into their chests and bellies. Particularly shocking to me — it must be a generational reaction — was that they assaulted both the young men and the young women with the same indiscriminate force. If the students turned away, they pounded their ribs. If they turned further away to escape, they hit them on their spines. [34]
Hass himself was hit in the ribs by a police officer wielding a baton. His wife Brenda Hillman was shoved to the ground by a police officer. [34]
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"Pepper sprayed in the face by the police at #OccupySeattle" |
On November 15, a march commenced from the Seattle Central Community College campus to Belltown. At one point during the march, a 17-year-old female swung a stick at an officer. After officers moved in to arrest the female the officers were hindered in their efforts, after issuing an order to disperse the officers deployed pepper spray to move subjects away from them so they could arrest the female suspect. [35] Police were filmed spraying the crowd of people with pepper spray. It was reported that the victims included "a 4-foot 10-inch, 84-year-old woman, a priest and a woman, Jennifer Fox, who claimed the pepper spray led to a miscarriage." [36] The 84-year-old woman, Dorli Rainey, is a former mayoral candidate and retired school teacher who has been active in City government on education and transportation issues since the 1960s. That night, Rainey was en route to City Hall to attend a scheduled meeting of the Seattle City Council's Transportation Committee. [37] Rainey had served on the school board, and in the 1970s ran for a seat on King County Council. In 2009, Rainey, then 82 years old, made a brief run for Seattle Mayor before withdrawing from the race citing her age: "I am old and should learn to be old, stay home, watch TV and sit still." However, regarding the possible miscarriage by Jennifer Fox, doubts have been cast on the truth of her claim. [38] [39]
Dorli Rainey was notably photographed Archived February 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine as she was being carried away by friends after having been hit with the police's chemical spray. [40]
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Brian Nguyen's flickr set (The California Aggie) | |
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Cops Pepper Spray Passive Protesters (Associated Press) |
On November 18, UC Davis Police arrived wearing riot gear at 3:30 pm and began removing tents and arresting demonstrators obstructing the removal of tents. A group of demonstrators staged a sit-in on the walkway in the quad, linking arms together and refusing to move. [41] Students began surrounding campus police officers and demanded release of the detained protesters in return for letting the officers leave. [42] Campus police officers asked the demonstrators to move several times, but the students refused. [43]
Sometime around 4:00 pm, two officers began spraying pepper spray directly in the faces of the sitting students. [44] Bystanders recorded the incident with cell phone cameras, while members of the crowd chanted "Shame on you" and "Let them go" at the police officers. [45] Eleven protesters received medical treatment; two were hospitalized. [46] [47] [48]
According to university officials, the officers felt like they were surrounded by the demonstrators. One of the officers who used pepper spray on the students was identified as Lieutenant John Pike. [49] Ten arrests were made. [50] Arrestees were "cited and released on misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and failure to disperse". Police began to leave the area around 4:10 pm as more students began to arrive. [51]
Lieutenant John Pike and another unnamed UC Davis Police officer were placed on administrative leave shortly after the incident. [52] UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza was later placed on leave as well. [53]
On January 28, 2012, Oakland Police arrested over 400 people, including at least six journalists. [54] [55] One of the imprisoned journalist emerged after 20 hours of imprisonment and reported witnessing police brutality and cruel treatment. [56] charges were dropped for virtually all of the 400 arrested individuals. [57]
The National Lawyers Guild of Northern California alleges a number of human rights abuses, including hundreds of unlawful arrests, physical assaults. The guild claims that many imprisoned protestors were being denied counsel or being denied medical care or medications. [58]
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"Police tase innocent protester" |
On January 30, US Park Police were filmed using a stun gun several times during an arrest at Occupy DC. The man had been arrested for removing eviction notices, and tazed after resisting arrest.[ citation needed ]
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Police attacking crowd outside Occupy Buffer Zone, April 6 |
On April 6, 2012, strong police force from the Republic of Cyprus gathered in the area occupied by the activists and raided the occupied buildings at around 10:15pm. The operation included the anti-terrorist department and the anti-drug department of the police force. [59] Policemen, equipped with guns, helmets and batons smashed the door and entered the building. [60] A sequence of screaming and sounds of smashing and breaking followed. [61] The police reported that it made 28 arrests, including 11 minors and that it had confiscated 1 gram of cannabis. [61]
The police was reported to have used excessive and unjustified violence in the operation. [59] Eyewitnesses reported that the police repeatedly hit a 24-year-old woman, "causing a massive bump to her forehead, as well as multiple cuts and bruises". [59] Reports were also made of sexual assault on a 19-year-old woman, [59] the beating of two activists that were arrested in the building,<ref name="cyprus-mail.com"> and for unjustified violence on the crowd of activists and passers by that had gathered outside the building. [59]
Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) is an anti-war movement in the United States. The movement began in May 2006, in Olympia, Washington, but also has chapters in Tacoma, Washington, Grays Harbor, Washington, and the Mid-Atlantic region. Port Militarization Resistance is also the name of the strategy employed by this movement. Adherents of the PMR strategy advocate an end to the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan to be accomplished through making civilian-owned ports inaccessible to the military, with less emphasis on persuading elected officials to abandon the war. PMR organized high-profile protests at the Port of Olympia and the Port of Tacoma in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009.
Kettling is a police tactic for controlling large crowds during demonstrations or protests. It involves the formation of large cordons of police officers who then move to contain a crowd within a limited area. Protesters either leave through an exit controlled by the police, leave through an uncontrolled gap in the cordons, or are contained, prevented from leaving, and arrested.
The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) is a nonprofit progressive legal organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded by Carl Messineo and Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the organization focuses on cases regarding free speech and dissent, domestic spying and surveillance, police misconduct, and government transparency.
The 2009–2010 California university college tuition hike protests were a series of protests held on college campuses in the University of California system and elsewhere in California in September 2009 through March 2010. The size of the protests at each campus varied with over 4,000 people at UC Berkeley and 20 at UC Merced. Protests were mostly made up of students, although faculty, school employees and others joined in the protests as well. Protestors were vocal against a tuition increase, pay cuts and other cutbacks following a budget deficit. The protests have been described as a precursor to the Occupy movement.
The 2010 United Kingdom student protests were a series of demonstrations in November and December 2010 that took place in several areas of the country, with the focal point of protests being in central London. Largely student-led, the protests were held in opposition to planned spending cuts to further education and an increase of the cap on tuition fees by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government following their review into higher education funding in England. Student groups said that the intended cuts to education were excessive, would damage higher education, give students higher debts, and broke campaign promises made by politicians.
The following is a timeline of Occupy Wall Street (OWS), a protest which began on September 17, 2011 on Wall Street, the financial district of New York City and included the occupation of Zuccotti Park, where protesters established a permanent encampment. The Occupy movement splintered after NYC Mayor Bloomberg had police raid the encampment in Zuccotti Park on November 15, 2011. The timeline here is limited to this particular protest during this approximate time-frame.
Occupy Seattle was a series of demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, United States in 2011 and 2012, that formed part of the wider Occupy movement taking place in numerous U.S. and world cities at that time. The demonstrations were particularly focused on the city's downtown area including Westlake Park and Seattle City Hall; their stated aim was to oppose wealth inequality, perceived corporate greed, and corruption in the banking and economic systems of the United States.
The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and economic justice and different forms of democracy. The movement has had many different scopes, since local groups often had different focuses, but its prime concerns included how large corporations and the global financial system control the world in a way that disproportionately benefits a minority, undermines democracy and causes instability.
Occupy Oakland refers to a collaboration and series of demonstrations in Oakland, California, that started in October 2011. As part of the Occupy movement, protesters have staged occupations, most notably at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall.
The Occupy movement spread to many other cities in the United States and worldwide beginning with the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City in September 2011. The movement sought to advance social and economic justice and different forms of democracy but each local group varied in specific aims. The demonstrations and encampment in New York City spread to other major and smaller cities. Some camps lasted through 2012. What follows is an alphabetical, non-chronological summary of Occupy encampments in the United States.
The following is a timeline of Occupy Oakland which began on Monday, October 10, 2011, as an occupation of Frank H. Ogawa Plaza located in front of Oakland City Hall in downtown Oakland, and is an ongoing demonstration. It is allied with Occupy Wall Street, which began in New York City on September 17, 2011, and is one of several "Occupy" protest sites in the San Francisco Bay Area. Other sites include Occupy San Francisco and Occupy San Jose.
The 2011 Oakland general strike was a demonstration held in Oakland, California on November 2, 2011 as part of the larger Occupy Oakland movement.
Occupy Cal included a series of demonstrations that began on November 9, 2011, on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California. It was allied with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City, San Francisco Bay Area Occupy groups such as Occupy Oakland, Occupy Berkeley, and Occupy San Francisco, and other public California universities. "Cal" in the name "Occupy Cal" is the nickname of the Berkeley campus and generally refers specifically to UC Berkeley.
The UC Davis pepper spray incident occurred on November 18, 2011, during an Occupy movement demonstration at the University of California, Davis. After asking the protesters to leave several times, university police pepper sprayed a group of student demonstrators as they were seated on a paved path in the campus quad. The video of UC Davis police officer Lt. John Pike pepper-spraying demonstrators spread around the world as a viral video and the photograph became an Internet meme. Officer Alex Lee also pepper sprayed demonstrators at Pike's direction.
Jennifer Doyle is a Professor of English at the University of California, Riverside. She is a queer theorist, art critic and sports writer.
The 2017 Berkeley protests were a series of protests and clashes between organized groups that occurred in the city of Berkeley, California, in the vicinity of the University of California campus. Violence occurred predominantly between protesters opposed to then-President Donald Trump, including activists such as antifa groups and socialists; and pro-Trump groups such as Republicans, members of the alt-lite and alt-right, neo-Nazis, and white nationalists. The majority of the participants were peaceful.
Local protests in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area quickly spread nationwide in more than 2,000 cities and towns, as well as over 60 countries internationally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In Minneapolis, destruction of property began on May 26, 2020, with the protests involving vandalism and arson. Demonstrations in many other cities also descended into riots and widespread looting. There was police brutality against protesters and journalists. Property damage estimates resulting from arson, vandalism and looting ranged from $1 to $2 billion, eclipsing the highest inflation adjusted totals for the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Eugene has a long history of community activism, civil unrest, and protest activity. Eugene's cultural status as a place for alternative thought grew along with the University of Oregon in the turbulent 1960s, and its reputation as an outsider's locale grew with the numerous anarchist protests in the late 1990s. According to the Chicago Tribune, the city was called a "cradle to [the] latest generation of anarchist protesters." Occupy Eugene was home to one of the nation's longest-lasting Occupy protests in 2011, with the last protester leaving the initial Occupy camp on December 27, 2011. The city received national attention during the summer of 2020, after Black Lives Matter protests in response to the murder of George Floyd grew violent.
In certain documents, divisions of the FBI refer to the Occupy Wall Street protests as a "criminal activity" or even "domestic terrorism."
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the F.B.I. has come under criticism for deploying counterterrorism agents to conduct surveillance and gather intelligence on organizations active in environmental, animal-cruelty and poverty issues.
Olsen, 24, [ ... ], was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired on Tuesday by police, protest organizers said.