damian: Occupy Portland Protesters Face Showdown With Police Over Eviction Order

By JONATHAN J. COOPER and TERRENCE PETTY, The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Several hundred protesters, some wearing goggles and gas masks, marched past authorities in a downtown street Sunday, hours after riot police forced Occupy Portland demonstrators out of a pair of weeks-old encampments in nearby parks.

Police moved in shortly before noon and drove protesters into the street after dozens remained in the camp in defiance city officials. Mayor Sam Adams had ordered that the camp shut down Saturday at midnight, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment's attraction of drug users and thieves.

(CLICK HERE OR SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST UPDATES)

More than 50 protesters were arrested in the police action, but officers did not use tear gas, rubber bullets or other so-called non-lethal weapons, police said.

After the police raid, the number of demonstrators swelled throughout the afternoon. By early evening, dozens of officers brandishing nightsticks stood shoulder-to-shoulder to hold the protesters back. Authorities retreated and protesters broke the standoff by marching through the streets.

Demonstrators regrouped several blocks away, where they broke into small groups to discuss their future. Some advocated occupying foreclosed homes, others wanted to move onto the Portland State University campus or to the shores of the Willamette River.

In the hours after the midnight eviction deadline, the anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters had flooded the park area even as authorities in other cities across the nation stepped up pressure against demonstrators, arresting dozens of people.

At one point overnight, the Portland 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 as demonstrators held a midday "general assembly" meeting to discuss their next moves. 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."

"We were talking about what we were going to do and then they just started hitting people. Seems like a waste of resources to me," protester Mike Swain, 27, told the AP.

One man was taken away on a stretcher; he was alert and talking to paramedics, and raised a peace sign to fellow protesters, who responded with cheers.

Choya Adkison, 30, said police moved in after giving demonstrators a false sense of calm. They thought they had time to rest, relax and regroup, she said

"Camp was completely vulnerable, completely defenseless" when police moved in, she said. "I'm disappointed that they created a sense of trust by walking away and then completely trampled it."

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.

Police Chief Mike Reese told KGW-TV it was his plan to take the parks in a peaceful manner and that's what happened.

"Our officers have performed exceptionally well," he said.

Even ahead of the police raid, the camp was a shadow of what it had been before Saturday. A large segment of campers were homeless people drawn to the free food and shelter offered by Occupy Portland. They are gone, after outreach workers went through the camp to help them find shelter elsewhere.

And as the Saturday midnight eviction deadline neared, protesters themselves began dismantling tents.

Around 4 a.m., dozens of police formed a line across from demonstrators who had poured into the street. Protesters facing them appeared to be in festive spirits with some banging on drums and plastic pails, another clanging a cowbell while others danced in the streets as a man juggled nearby.

On Sunday at an impromptu news conference, the mayor 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.

Officials said that one officer suffered minor injuries when he was hit by some kind of projectile in the leg. Police had prepared for a possible clash, warning that dozens of anarchists may be planning a confrontation with authorities. Officers seized pieces of cement blocks Friday, saying they were told some demonstrators had plans to use them as weapons against police. They said they believe some demonstrators were building shields and trying to collect gas masks.

And police seized incendiary devices, gas masks and marijuana on Sunday after stopping three men for speeding on Interstate 5 south of Portland. The men told police they had left Occupy Portland an hour earlier and were carrying the equipment in anticipation of a confrontation with authorities, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said.

Meanwhile in Oakland, Calif., friends confirmed Sunday that Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran who suffered a serious head injury during a police raid on the Occupy Oakland encampment, has been released from the hospital. Olsen suffered a skull fracture during tear-gas filled clashes between police and demonstrators on Oct. 25.

Dottie Guy of Iraq Veterans Against the War said Sunday Olsen was released last week. He can now read and write, but still has trouble talking, she added.

"Considering what happened to him he's doing well," Guy said. "He does have a brain injury so there will be some kind of rehab and physical therapy needed."

Occupy Wall Street supporters nationwide have rallied around Olsen's plight.

Also Sunday, for the third time in three days, Oakland city officials warned protesters that they do not have the right to camp in the plaza in front of City Hall and face immediate arrest. Police did not respond to requests for comment on whether officers were preparing to forcibly clear the camp.

The eviction notices come as officials across the country urged an end to similar gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire. Demands for Oakland protesters to pack up increased after a man was shot and killed Thursday near the encampment site.

Police officials have said a preliminary investigation suggested the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the encampment. Investigators do not know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but protesters said there was no connection between the shooting and the camp.

The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-old military veteran apparently committed suicide in a tent at a Burlington, Vt., Occupy encampment. Police said a preliminary investigation showed the veteran fatally shot himself in the head. They said the death raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue.

In other cities over the weekend:

_ In Salt Lake City, police arrested 19 people Saturday when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a man as found dead inside his tent at the encampment. The arrests came after police moved into the park early in the evening where protesters had been ordered to leave by the end of the day. About 150 people had been living in the camp there for weeks.

_ In Albany, N.Y., police arrested 24 Occupy Albany protesters after they defied an 11 p.m. curfew in a state-owned park. State police officials hauled away the protesters after warning them with megaphones that they were breaking the law in Lafayette Park. They were charged with trespassing.

_ In Denver, authorities forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment and arrested four people for interfering with officers who removed illegally pitched tents, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.

_ In San Francisco, violence marked the protest Saturday where police said two demonstrators attacked two police officers in separate incidents during a march. Police spokesman Carlos Manfredi said a protester slashed an officer's hand with a pen knife while another protester shoved an officer, causing facial cuts. He said neither officer was seriously hurt, and the assailants couldn't be located.

___

Associated Press writers Terry Collins in Oakland, Josh Loftin in Salt Lake City, Jim Anderson in Denver and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Latest Updates On HuffPost's Live Blog:

@ anotherday1 : Thank u @DenverPolice & ur families for enduring the #occupydenver mob 2night knowing what your facing & the provoking & mocking ur taking

Once again, the DPD reaffirms its position as the most violent police force in the United States. Officers assaulted demonstrators who were just standing on the sidelines. An officer waited until a protester turned around and hit him in the back three times. They assaulted people verbally, including threats to ?break the teeth? of protesters. One officer told another officer to ?SHOOT EM!! SHOOT EM NOW!? One protester was struck by an officer on a motorcycle and was hospitalized. Protesters were kettled and shot with pepper-balls, according to Colorado Street Medics, who found pepper-ball shells at the scene of last night?s incident. The shooting took place at 14th and Speer, eventually forcing the group to move to 16th St. Mall, where diners and theater-goers were present. The police action resulted in the closing of the 16th St. Mall bus system for civilian safety. Police actions put the general public in harms way, for no reason. All of this dangerous mayhem, completely instigated by police under the orders of our Mayor, was directed at peaceful protesters. Protestors were followed, intimidated and hunted by the police for hours after the eviction, proving that this was not about Civic Center park, but an attempt to aggressively confront the Occupy movement. These are certainly the kind of actions one might expect from the Egyptian Police in the last days of the Arab Spring, but not in Denver?.

Click here to read the rest of the statement.

@ OccupyLA : Huge Need: Power... the kind you run computers, lights and appliances with. Please come by the media tent for specifics. Thanks! ~pj #OLAGA

Parents of a school near the Occupy Oakland encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza have received an e-mail warning of imminent police raids, KALW News reported.

?A highly coordinated law enforcement raid to clear out OO is planned to take place Monday morning early. Significant public safety mutual aid is being called in from neighboring jurisdictions. The goal is to permanently clear out the OO encampment of illegal activities. Expect to see overwhelming use of force by police directed to occupiers who refuse to comply.
Peaceful protesters are advised by police to stand down until the situation stabilizes. The general public is advised to stay away from the area during the action to avoid potential personal injury from incidental contact with conflicts.?

Click here to read more.

@ Oregonian : #OccupyPortland: Protesters at Pio. Cthouse Sq. discussing idea of a moving occupation, peacefully moving from one destination to the next.

Occupy Denver writes:

It is clear that the occupation movement has the government terrified of the emerging ?people power? in America and is willing to suppress this movement by any means. In the past 24 hours, major Occupies across America were attacked and forcibly evicted. Word is that the newly emerging class consciousness in America is bad for business and must be stopped. Last night, once again, public safety and health was evoked by legal officials as a mob of Riot Police marched into Civic Center Park. In the past weeks Occupy Denver members were legally sleeping on the sidewalk without tents. A warning notice was given to the protesters late Friday night by police officials stating that ?encumbrances? must be removed from public sidewalks, though no official notice of enforcement, or a time, was given. Again the government decided to change the rules and enforce its most belligerent action to date, to remove everyone from the sidewalk that in prior notices from the state were approved. When asked if ample time would be given to remove personal property, the officers responded in the affirmative. Moments later, the police moved in.
Once again, the DPD reaffirms its position as the most violent police force in the United States. Officers assaulted demonstrators who were just standing on the sidelines. An officer waited until a protester turned around and hit him in the back three times. They assaulted people verbally, including threats to ?break the teeth? of protesters. One officer told another officer to ?SHOOT EM!! SHOOT EM NOW!? One protester was struck by an officer on a motorcycle and was hospitalized. Protesters were kettled and shot with pepper-balls, according to Colorado Street Medics, who found pepper-ball shells at the scene of last night?s incident. The shooting took place at 14th and Speer, eventually forcing the group to move to 16th St. Mall, where diners and theater-goers were present. The police action resulted in the closing of the 16th St. Mall bus system for civilian safety. Police actions put the general public in harms way, for no reason. All of this dangerous mayhem, completely instigated by police under the orders of our Mayor, was directed at peaceful protesters. Protestors were followed, intimidated and hunted by the police for hours after the eviction, proving that this was not about Civic Center park, but an attempt to aggressively confront the Occupy movement. These are certainly the kind of actions one might expect from the Egyptian Police in the last days of the Arab Spring, but not in Denver?.
Our calls for the state to respect our first amendment rights have apparently fallen on deaf ears. Our attempts to negotiate through the city council, the mayor, and the governor have turned up nothing concrete. The first amendment states that it is illegal for the state to make any laws ?abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.? For the Occupy Movement, the ability to assemble in tents is a form of free speech, and our constitutional rights have clearly been violated. The state and local governments are both in violation of the U.S. Constitution, as they are also in violation of the UN?s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We call on the Department of Justice and the UN Human Rights Commission to look into these allegations as we assert our right to freely assemble peacefully.
So far almost 4,000 folks have been arrested at Occupy demonstrations around the country, yet not a single one of the Wall Street criminals responsible for the financial ruin we find ourselves in has. We have mobilized against the greatest concentration of power known to man, and like all empires of the past, we know this one will not go down without a fight. It?s been little over a month, and we can already see the tremendous positive impact the Occupy movement has had. For the fourth time in a month, they may have blocked off our park from us, but we are not going anywhere.

Visit the branch's official site here.

Via The Oregonian:

While the scene of the Occupy Portland camp early on Sunday was of police and occupiers cleaning a heavily used camp, later the mood turned tense and saw demonstrators and Portland Police officers face off during some more defiant moments.

See photos of the protests' final hours here:

The New York Times reports:

As city officials around the country move to disband Occupy Wall Street encampments amid growing concerns over health and public safety, protesters have begun to erect more tents on college campuses.
?We are trying to get mass numbers of students out,? said Natalia Abrams, 31, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles and an organizer with Occupy Colleges, a national group coordinating college-based protesters.
Though only a handful of colleges have encampments at the moment, tents went up last week at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., and here at the University of California, Berkeley. Additionally, protesters in California have vowed to occupy dozens of campuses in the coming days.

Full story here.

OregonLive reports that protests have begun to take to the streets.

Protesters, fearing they'll be subject to tear gas if they stay, begin marching up Southwest Main Street toward Fifth Avenue. They're chanting: "We got sold out. Banks got bailed out."

To read more, head over to OregonLive.

According to Oregon Live, police have begun to break up the Occupy Portland camp.

Police brought in a white wagon with speakers on top and ordered the protesters through the speakers to clear the sidewalk to let pedestrians pass.

To read more, click here.

Huffpost's Ryan Grim reports that a woman having convulsions was subdued and taken out of Zuccotti Park on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance at around noon on Sunday.

Occupy Denver protesters clashed with Denver police again Saturday night in a battle over the groups' belongings blocking the sidewalk. 17 protesters have been arrested.

The Denver Post reports that at 4:30 p.m. Saturday officers met with Occupy Denver protesters and told them they needed to remove items from the sidewalk. Close to half of the protesters then vacated Lincoln Park and Civic Center, with the remainder of the group staying to march downtown.

To read more, click here:

@ Gothamist : On Thursday, #OccupyWallStreet will attempt to shut down the NYSE for their 2-month anniversary in Zuccotti Park http://t.co/Mp8p6HHr

From the AP:

PORTLAND, Ore. ? Anti-Wall Street protesters and their supporters flooded a city park area in Portland early Sunday in defiance of an eviction order, and authorities elsewhere stepped up pressure against the demonstrators, arresting nearly two dozen.

Crowds converged on two adjacent downtown Portland parks where protesters are camped after city officials set a midnight Saturday deadline to disperse.

But hours later, the protesters were still there, backed by many supporters who spilled out into the streets next to camp, tying up traffic.

At one point the numbers swelled to thousands but then started to thin in the early morning hours.

Organizers said they hope enough people will join them to make it difficult if not impossible for police to carry through on any eviction.

For more, click here.

Business Insider reports:

Jay-Z and his clothing brand, Rocawear, have yielded to the controversy surrounding their "Occupy All Streets" T-shirt line, which launched yesterday. The shirts have apparently been yanked from the brand's online store, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Read more here.

Joshua Holland reports for AlterNet:

During an Occupy Oakland camp meeting on November 3 ? the morning after a boisterous but peaceful day of protests in Oakland devolved into a barrage of teargas and ?less lethal? bullets after nightfall -- about a dozen ?occupiers? expressed their frustration with the vandalism that had marred the evening; acts of mayhem committed by a small number of people among the thousands who took part in the protests

Read the whole thing here.

Via RightWingWatch:

While Religious Right leaders lauded tea party groups for taking to the streets, now they are asking for the government, and God, to crush the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Earlier this week, the Family Research Council asked members to pray against "these raucus [sic] groups" and "ideological anarchists," asking for God to "harvest souls for Christ among them."

An eloquent account of being arrested at a protest and the accompanying feelings of powerlessness and anger.

Yesterday, I was beaten, arrested, and jailed for participating in an act of civil disobedience against the privatization of education and criminalization of dissent in California.
I?ve spent the last day trying to process what happened, and writing this is an attempt to get it out of my mind and on to paper (having spent last night on a cement floor, I could use some mental solace). There?s nothing exceptional about my experience, and yet, even knowing that, I write this grappling with a feeling of voicelessness and powerlessness that I have never before experienced. I know that, once you start talking about ?police brutality? and ?police states?, you enter into a group of wild-eyed conspiracy theorists that most Americans dismiss out of hand. I can?t control that portrayal, but for whatever reason, I need to talk about what happened, even if I can?t figure out why it has affected me so much.

The Atlantic reports:

It started with activists looking to the Middle East for inspiration, now Occupy Wall Street actually plans to go to the Middle East: On Thursday it approved $29,000 to send 20 observers to Egypt's election two weeks from now. Not all in the movement are happy about the decision, but with the protest encampment's budget swelling into the high six figures, they can certainly afford it. In yet another example of Occupy Wall Street becoming a microcosm of a larger society, it now has a foreign policy debate on its hands.

Read the whole thing here.

@ BreakingNews : Oakland, Calif., police handing out eviction notices at Occupy Oakland encampment - NBC News

From The Smoking Gun:

A Long Island couple has abandoned their attempt to trademark the phrase "Occupy Wall St." so that they could put it on merchandise like bumper stickers, umbrellas, and hobo bags, according to federal records.
Robert and Diane Maresca last week notified the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that they were dropping their application for the "Occupy Wall St." trademark, which was filed on October 18 (and cost the couple a $975 filing fee).

Full story here.

OfftheBus contributor Aimee Allison reports the scene at Occupy Oakland Thursday night, when a young man was shot and killed near the group's encampment. Here's her story.

So far this year, there have been 109 victims of murder on the streets of Oakland. Today, I am sad to say that I witnessed one more.
It was the eve of this historic Veterans Day, 11/11/11. I was headed to "Oscar Grant Plaza" at 4:30 pm to catch up with veterans that have made the camp their home in the last month. They organized a march. I was expecting a party, announced by organizers to celebrate Occupy Oakland's one-month anniversary. Instead, there was pure chaos.
As I entered the plaza from Telegraph Avenue, a stampede of young teens ran past me screaming that someone had been shot, "Get away! Somebody's been shot!" On the plaza, I saw tonight's victim, a young black man, lying prone at the foot of a lamp post, his dreadlocks splayed on the pavement. His head rested in a pool of blood. His skinny, limp body was surrounded by a confused and increasingly agitated crowd. I now know from subsequent news reports that the young man was 22-year-old Alex, who had slept the past few nights at the encampment. As I saw him tonight, he was tiny and fragile. Broken in his jeans and t-shirt. The plaza was eerily quiet, save for a lone woman crying in the corner.
I screamed for someone to call 9-1-1, but was unable to get close to the injured man. At this point, there were still no visible police or medics on the scene. A few people formed a blockade around Alex and demanded that no one take photos. I was among many who called 9-1-1, demanding that an ambulance come immediately. After hanging up, I noticed several people gathered around Alex attempting to stop the bleeding and to perform CPR.
Despite the warnings, I took out my phone to video the event. Suddenly, three men surrounded me, shoved and punched me to the ground. One of the men grabbed my phone and threw it down on the paving stones. I would describe him as being 5'8", dark-skinned man with short hair. After shoving me, he turned to KGO-TV cameraman Randy Davis, joining a group of 20 others attacking him and forcing him over the railing of the 14th Street BART station. In the melee, my driver's license and credit card were lost.
As I stood alone, shaken and crying, a protester approached me and returned my phone, along with words of apology. A later interview with an Occupy camper revealed that the victim had only recently joined the encampment. He'd argued with another in the food line. The assailant apparently called his cousin and three others from the neighborhood and they came ready to kill. And they killed Alex.
When asked if the shooting was the responsibility of Occupy Oakland movement, I have to say "No." Yes, the men involved were eating and the victim was sleeping at the camp, but these individuals were not the advocates for political change and Wall Street accountability demanded by the Occupy Wall Street movement. They came to find food and shelter. And they brought everyday, inner-city desperation and violence to center stage.

Read the rest of Aimee's post or see more citizen journalism from OfftheBus.