(Oakland) Judge refuses to lift Occupy stay-away orders

[alp227]

Attorneys for two Occupy Oakland protesters arrested during weekend clashes with police argued Thursday that stay-away orders imposed against the men were veiled attempts to block them from exercising their rights, but failed to persuade a judge to lift them.

The orders prevent the men from coming within 300 feet of both Frank Ogawa Plaza, the movement's epicenter, and the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, which protesters tried to take over Saturday.

Attorney Ali Saidi said the order against his client, Michael Lubin, 21, was an infringement on his right to free speech and to assemble. Lubin, an Iraq war veteran, pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assaulting a peace officer.

"It's a political tool used against people who want to participate in the Occupy Oakland movement," Saidi said. "It will essentially keep him from going downtown."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/02/BA871N2F61.DTL

[unionworks]

1. for those who don't know

"Assaulting a police officer" has been made so broad as to include grabbing onto them as you are falling to the ground while being clubbed. Where is the ACLU on this?

[Yo_Mama]

2. Facts matter - at least in court

Prosecutors said Lubin, who was convicted of carrying a loaded weapon in Palo Alto in 2010, was spotted by an undercover officer throwing a 2-by-4 board at a line of police officers on Oak Street, and later throwing a baseball-size rock that struck an officer in the back.
...
Prosecutors said Casillas, a philosophy major at San Francisco State University, had struck one officer in the face with the bicycle and injured another who tried to stop him.

Also note that the attorney for Casillas said that the video cameras worn by three different cops all malfunctioned, which is at least suspicious (although possible under the circumstances).

A judge might decide that a stay-away order in a different case very differently - these are serious allegations which are pretty rare in the Oakland protests.

Consider Lubin's case. He had a prior conviction for carrying a loaded weapon, and the judge gets this guy up in court and is told by the police that he attacked officers in two different instances. There's at least some independent corroboration that this man might not be the most peaceful guy on the planet, and that allowing him to continue at the protests might result in violence.

[unionworks]

4. Sorry, the video is on youtube

Those cops corralled the protesters up against barriers and then gave them an order to disperse, leaving knocking over the barriers as their only way out. They then used this as an excuse to gas, shoot and club the shit out of them. Oakland PD will soon have a much needed federal babysitter. I give all benefit of a doubt to the protestersafter the brutal actions of the OPD. Period.

[unionworks]

3. All three cops video cameras

Just happened to malfunction? Simultaneously? Really? Translate - ex military, closest thing we can get to a leader, rat fuck immediately.