Updates on Occupy Oakland, General Strike Plans

[robdogbucky]

Occupy Oakland: City braces for general strike

Kevin Fagan, Demian Bulwa,Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writers

Tuesday, November 1, 2011


OAKLAND -- From schools and downtown stores to the nation's fifth busiest port, Oakland is bracing for Wednesday's citywide general strike, a hastily planned and ambitious action called by Occupy protesters a day after police forcibly removed their City Hall encampment last week.

Occupy Oakland has since returned to Frank Ogawa Plaza, but the leaderless group is still asking workers and students in the city to take the day off to come downtown and protest economic inequality and corporate greed.

Major goals will be protesting at banks or corporations that refuse to shut down for the day, then marching in the evening to the Port of Oakland to try to shut down the night shift.

Some employees and businesses downtown, where the core activities are scheduled, intend to participate, while others plan to carry on as normal - hoping there won't be a resumption of last week's violent clashes between protesters and police...


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/31/BAQ01LOK11.DTL#ixzz1cTUuktC4





Oakland police union: 'We are confused' by Quan

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

(11-01) 09:54 PDT OAKLAND --

The Oakland police union released a statement today saying its officers are confused about Mayor Jean Quan's stance on the Occupy Oakland encampment and what they are being asked to do for Wednesday's citywide general strike.

A legion of Oakland officers and those from 17 outside agencies were asked to remove the Occupy Oakland campers early Oct. 25 from Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall, but Quan allowed protesters to return starting the next day, the union's "open letter to the citizens of Oakland" noted. The encampment is now about as large as before the police sweep.

"We, too, are the 99 percent fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families," the Oakland Police Officers' Association statement said. "We are severely understaffed with many city beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours.

"As your police officers, we are confused."

Although the city is allowing employees to participate in the strike that Occupy Oakland has called for Wednesday, the union said, all officers have been ordered to work that day, even if they had previously had the day off...


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/01/BAOS1LP3SB.DTL#ixzz1cTVcgjlq





Oakland Mayor Quan officially responds to recall

Updated: 9:48 pm PDT October 31, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has officially responded to a group of Oakland residents seeking to recall her saying she's ignoring public safety as the city's most pressing issue.

Quan said Monday that "the last thing we need is a divisive and expensive recall campaign. In 20 years of serving Oakland, my only agenda has been to work hard for our diverse city."

The petition filed last week with 71 signatures says the group has no confidence in Quan and that she has "no rational solution to mitigate the chaos" since taking office in January.

Quan wrote that she has been working on public safety issues including recently rehiring nearly 40 officers, securing a federal grant for 25 more and sponsoring a public safety summit with 1,000 residents earlier this month.

City officials are checking to see if a majority of the signatures are registered Oakland voters.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/29644815/detail.html




Occupy Oakland's General Strike Call: 'Shut Down The 1%'

Jason Kessler

Posted: 9:39 am PDT November 1, 2011Updated: 9:39 am PDT November 1, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Occupy Wall Street movement is about to enter new territory: The strike zone.
By a vote of 1,484 to 46, the General Assembly of Occupy Oakland voted last week to call a citywide general strike for Wednesday.

"e invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city," the group's manifesto read. "We liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%."

After striking, demonstrators plan to converge Wednesday evening on Oakland's port, one of the country's largest and the city's most visible symbol of commerce.

Occupy Oakland's call to strike follows a crackdown on protesters last Tuesday. Police loosed smoke grenades and rubber bullets, and Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen suffered a fractured skull after being struck by what protesters say was a tear gas canister.

"Tens of thousands" will turn out for Wednesday's general strike, Occupy Oakland organizer Tim Simons predicted...

http://www.ktvu.com/news/29649909/detail.html

[Marazinia]

1. All right then

Starting to feel sorry for some of the individual police officers, especially the ones who are serious about supporting their union. What a bad place for those guy to be in. I just hope they're not ordered to become violent.