85 Arrested at Occupy Oakland; Protesters Cleared with Tear Gas [VIDEO]
Oakland Police arrested approximately 85 Occupy Oakland protesters on Tuesday. Riot police armed with tear gas and beanbag rounds cleared out the Occupy Oakland protesters from the campsite they set up at a government plaza in California outside City Hall.
Police have said the arrests were made on suspicion of the misdemeanor of unlawful assembly and illegal camping.
According to The Associated Press, the protesters have been at the campsite for two weeks. Nothing but overturned tents, signs and trash remained after hundreds of police entered the camp just before dawn.
The AP reported that in Tuesday's cleanup, officers fired tear gas and bean bags when a group of protesters threw rocks and bottles from near the camp's kitchen area at them.
Police said none of the approximately 170 protesters who were at the camp were injured. But some protesters have said they were handled roughly. There is footage of those arrested being taken away in plastic handcuffs.
I am very pleased with the way things went, interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said at a news conference. In the end, I think we allowed people to exercise their rights to free speech and free assembly.
The protesters in Oakland are a part of a nationwide movement lobbying against corporate greed and inequality. The protest against these actions spawned from the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City, which began in September. Those protests have also spilled over to Europe.
City officials were forced to clear the makeshift campsite because of sanitary and public safety concerns, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
On Saturday, the anti-Wall Street protesters defied city orders to vacate the area by remaining at the campsite.
City spokeswoman Karen Boyd told the media earlier that Oakland gave official notice that the protesters didn't have permission to stay overnight and that their campsite was breaking the law. She said protesters could legally demonstrate at the plaza from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to MSNBC.
You do not have permission to lodge overnight in Frank Ogawa Plaza, the city's notice read. You must remove all tents, sleeping bags, tarps, cooking facilities and equipment and any other lodging material from the plaza immediately. Your continued use of the plaza for overnight lodging will subject you to arrest.
Watch a video of police clearing out the protesters from the park below:
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