Last night, Occupy Oakland protesters were run over by a Mercedes. Luckily, nobody’s 24-karat dead:
The incident happened when the driver was heading south on 11th and was blocked by streams of marchers walking along Broadway, witnesses said. He had a green light, but could not get through.
Hartwig said witnesses had differing accounts of what happened, with some saying the driver appeared to have gunned the Mercedes into the victims in frustration and others saying he had been provoked by activists pounding on his car.
In other disturbing news, soonergrunt pointed out this Occupy Tulsa footage of police pepper spraying protestors who were sitting on the ground with their arms linked:
Here’s the Tulsa World story on the arrests, which includes a lot more pictures and some raw video.
gbear
I heard on the radio this morning that the Minneapolis police have decided that the best way to protect the public from unsightly ideas is to ban signs at the Occupy site. Can’t wait to see how that one plays out.
Robin G.
A Mercedes hitting OWS protesters.
My high school creative writing teacher would have deducted points for the bluntness of that metaphor.
scav
@gbear: Placards and Posters: scarier than twitter in MN.
beltane
@Robin G.: The 1%ers do seem determined to prove that all the old Soviet era anti-capitalist propaganda wasn’t as overblown as we had been led to believe. It’s starting to feel like 1905 around these parts, you’d think they’d have the sense to tone it down a little.
singfoom
Nice TMBG reference. I can’t believe they just held the guys face and sprayed him. Oh well, that’s Oklahoma.
Robin G.
@beltane: Forget 1905, it’s starting to feel like 1788.
gbear
@scav: I tried to find information about the sign ban in the paper, but the headlines for the last week have been about the failure of government to come to an agreement on how (and where) we’re going to provide the Vikings with a new stadium to their liking. I’d like to see MN buy them plane tickets to LA.
scav
@gbear: A ban would be right up there on the stupid meter with running protesters down in gold-plated Mercedes by cops in spats, but stupid seems increasingly to be the order of the day. I’d keep an eye on it. And I’ll toast the idea of watching sports teams roam about the planet like the Flying Dutchman or errant radioactive garbage scows, unable to find marks willing to build them a stadium.
Feudalism Now!
The signs at Occupy Minnesota are frequently spelled correctly and that will not stand. Morans!
I did not think the General Strike would come to much in Oakland. I am very happy to be proven wrong. The port was shut down. The General Strike of 1946 was talked about in positive tones. People setting things right was portrayed as laudable.
Samara Morgan
Guess what?
Julian predicted this.
America will become a police state on its way to NLS collapse.
Wag
…and the police responded with another very common tactic we see all over the world in these kinds of protests: Brutality.
Samara Morgan
@Wag: We are all Palestinians now.
someguy
Youtube of the 1%er running over the protester here.
NCSteve
However did I know without looking that the comments in the Tulsa World would contain many expressions of intense gratification that DFH’s were pepper sprayed?
But hey, it’s only equitable. After all, the cops were breaking out the pepper spray all the effing time during the Teahadist rallies.
Carl Nyberg
I was demonstrating outside the Union League Club in Chicago. Apparently someone invited Gov. Scott Walker.
Older guys in suits do seem to be aggressive at times. A couple tried to force us out of the way. The second time I encountered this, I did not yield.
But later a guy kinda struck me from behind with his body and an umbrella. I was pretty surprised. If he hadn’t of caught my offguard, I would have grabbed the cop and filed a battery complaint, being that it was deliberate and involved a weapon.
xian
@singfoom: it reminds me of that redwoods protest in northern cali where protesters chained themselves to a mayor (or similar)’s desk and police applied pepper spray “juice” directly to their held open eyes with q-tips. how is that not torture?
xian
assange also predicted this dump i’m about to take
cleek
the driver was a total dick to gun the car like that, no doubt. that’s gonna leave a mark on his permanent record, for sure.
but the guy walking was doing his best to provoke some kind of reaction. the one he got was totally out of line, yes. but he had to expect something was going to happen. once i started damaging the car, i’d at least expect the driver to get out and try to beat my ass.
Rafer Janders
@gbear:
Good luck getting that past the first court challenge.
But my, my, these protests sure do seem to have the local authorities and police freaked, don’t they?
SW
I was once knocked out by a Mink DeVille
Samara Morgan
@xian: wow, great snark….not.
is that the best you can xian?
Samara Morgan
@xian: hmmm….is your nic an exemplar of Dr. Lynn’s negative correlation of religiosity with cognitive ability?
Shade Tail
But was it driven by a guitar?
Feudalism Now!
Police acting on the behalf of moneyed interests, modern Pinkertons. Move along, nothing to see here.
Roger Moore
@Samara Morgan:
Says the most outspokenly religious poster on the blog…
Odie Hugh Manatee
@xian:
assange predicted you would write that. He also predicted that my wife’s car would need an oil change today.
Samara Morgan
@Roger Moore: religion and religiosity are two entirely different things.
Samara Morgan
@Odie Hugh Manatee: not very good either.
you both need snark transfusions.
Catsy
@cleek: Pretty much where I’m at. The protester was acting like an asshole and obviously trying to provoke a reaction. But the escalation of force in that reaction was completely beyond the pale and inexcusable.
Nicki Minaj
Put your number twos in the air if ya did it on ’em.
Yutsano
@Samara Morgan: You need a massive attitude adjustment. Neither of us is going to get our desire here I fear.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Samara Morgan:
Assange predicted that you would be predictable and say exactly that.
@Yutsano:
She needs a massive attitude enema.
Robin G.
@Catsy @cleek: Have to say I disagree. Watching the video, this seems to be the sequence of events:
1) Mercedes tries to edge through the crowd and comes to within two or three inches of protester.
2) Protester raises his hands and yells at Mercedes.
3) Mercedes bumps protester in the knees.
4) Protester slams hands on the hood of the car.
5) Mercedes guns engine and runs over protester.
If a car came to within a couple of inches of me while I was in the middle of a march — and not particularly slowly — you can bet I’d shout and hold up my hands. And if the Mercedes proceeded to bump me in the knees, I’d hit the hood of the car too. The protester certainly didn’t take it meekly and mildly, but I don’t think he started the altercation, nor made an effort to escalate it. I think he reacted on the aggressive end of appropriate to each action of the Mercedes.
Nellcote
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/03/BANI1LQ2HO.DTL&ao=all
Joel
@cleek: Seems like classic douchebag escalation. The driver instigated by leading his car into the marching line. The protestor escalated by banging on his car. And the driver committed the felony act by gunning his car to hurt and/or kill the other guy. You can attribute some blame to the protestor for not taking the conflict avoidance route, but I would say that 99% of the blame falls on the driver. After all, he’s the one with the deadly weapon, and he’s the one who instigated the situation. I hope they throw that douchebag in prison. Just me.
cleek
@Joel:
i’d say they both elected to follow the conflict escalation route, but only the driver remembered first year physics’ “F = MA”. but then he didn’t remember that with great mass and great acceleration comes great responsibility.
i hope so, too.
Barry
“Seems like classic douchebag escalation. The driver instigated by leading his car into the marching line. The protestor escalated by banging on his car. And the driver committed the felony act by gunning his car to hurt and/or kill the other guy. ”
Wrong. ‘The driver instigated by leading his car into the marching line.’ = ‘threatening people with a deadly weapon.
Robert Waldmann
The car was in particular a silver mercedes. I don’t know how things are over there in the New World (I live in Italy) but over here drivers of silver mercedeses are the worst menace except for drivers of silver BMWs and drivers of flaming red sports cars (other than Ferraris believe me Ferrari drivers are verrrrry careful).
I don’t hate the cars I just hate the people who drive them.
They added insult to injury when I shared my view of silver BMW drivers while riding in the passenger seat of a normal colored normal car. So one silver BMW or Mercedes driving bastard after another behaved with grossly excessive courtesy just to make me look like a fool.
Bubblegum Tate
The guy who got run down in Oakland is a friend of mine. Real chill dude, always happy and smiling and whatnot. Fuck that Benz-driving asshole.
joeshabadoo
@Robin G.:
You seem to be the only other one who really watched the video.
The car gets extremely close and the protester yells at him to stop.
Then the car hits him.
I don’t use bump because a car weighs over 3 tons. Something that big doesn’t bump your ankles and knees and your knees don’t bend backwards. If someone blocks your way momentarily when you walk you can’t use your hands to push him so you sure as hell can’t use your damn car.
After being hit by the car he hits the hood, and the guys guns it running him down.
The driver should be in jail right now. A car is an incredibly dangerous weapon. We see them so much we forget that.
I hope they take him to civil court too and force him to pawn his Mercedes to fund the movement.