Police clear out downtown Occupy Oakland camp

OAKLAND, California?? Riot-clad law enforcement officers cleared out an anti-Wall Street encampment in Oakland, California just before dawn Monday.

Protesters at the Occupy site appeared to put up little resistance, and officers led some away from the downtown plaza in handcuffs.

Some demonstrators gathered near the barricades and vowed to return. "I don't see how they're going to disperse us," said Ohad Meyer, 30. "There are thousands of people who are going to come back."

The action came a day after police drove hundreds of anti-Wall Street demonstrators from weeks-old encampments in Portland, Oregon, arresting more than 50 people.

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Officials across the U.S. have been urging an end to similar gatherings after four deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire.

Oakland officials insisted on an end to their city's encampment after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the camp. Police issued an order Sunday night telling demonstrators they couldn't camp in the plaza.

Mayor Jean Quan had allowed protesters to reclaim the site after facing criticism after a raid Oct. 25, when police entered the encampment with tear gas and bean bag projectiles.

Friends confirmed on Sunday that an Iraq War veteran who was injured in the Oct. 25 raid, Scott Olsen, has been released from the hospital. Olsen, who suffered a skull fracture, became a rallying point for protesters nationwide.

Dottie Guy of Iraq Veterans Against the War said Olsen can now read and write but still has trouble talking.

The Oakland camp grew substantially after the Oct. 25 raid.

Protesters said that there was no connection between last week's shooting and the camp. But police Sunday night identified the slain man as 25-year-old Kayode Ola Foster of Oakland, saying his family confirmed he had been staying at the plaza.

Police officer Johnna Watson said witnesses have told police that one of two suspects in the shooting had also been a frequent resident at the plaza. Their names haven't been released.

Investigators suspect that the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men.

In the hours after the midnight Saturday eviction deadline in Portland, the protesters and their supporters had flooded the park area. At one point, the crowd swelled to thousands. As dawn arrived, riot police had retreated and most of the crowds had gone home, but protesters who have been at the two parks since Oct. 6 were still there, prompting one organizer to declare the night a victory for the movement.

"We stood up to state power," Jim Oliver told The Associated Press.

It didn't last. Police moved in later. An officer on a loudspeaker warned that anyone who resisted risked arrest and "may also be subject to chemical agents and impact weapons." Demonstrators chanted "we are a peaceful protest."

City officials erected temporary chain-link fences with barbed wire at the top around three adjacent downtown parks, choking off access for demonstrators as parks officials cleaned up.

Mayor Sam Adams on Sunday defended his order to clear the park, saying it is his job to enforce the law and keep the peace. "This is not a game," Adams said.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45286970/ns/us_news-life/

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