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A late afternoon protest called in reaction to the operation that cleared Frank Ogawa Plaza Tuesday morning became a battle over the same ground Tuesday night.
It looks like Oakland will begin and end Tuesday to the scent of tear gas.
After being evicted from Frank Ogawa Plaza Tuesday morning, Occupy Oakland protestors staged a late afternoon rally that began peacefully but later turned into a confrontation with police over the same ground that had been fought over in the morning.
At around 7:45 p.m., police fired tear gas to disperse several hundred demonstrators who had refused to acknowledge an order to disband what officials had determined was an unlawful assembly.
A live blog on InsideBayArea.com follows the afternoon protest and the police response in reverse chronological order.
In addition to the video footage above, a brief clip on YouTube captures the chaos – and foul language – of the tear-gassing.
A stream of Tweets coded #occupyoakland provide updates. The phrase, Oakland PD, was one of the most seached-for terms in the Twitterverse tonight.
It was a raucous day from the start.
Oakland police in riot gear (with help from other units including San Leandro) moved in about 5:00 a.m. to break up an encampment that had refused city orders to vacate the plaza
At least 75 protesters were arrested mostly for misdemeanor offenses, including unlawful assembly and lodging.
At a press conference early Tuesday, interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said the morning operation had gone well.
“There were no injuries to the public or my officers” – he said.
Jordan defended the use of tear gas and nonlethal beanbag weapons Tuesday morning. He said these tactics would be investigated by the department’s internal affairs unit.

Occupy Oakland Protestors.

Tuesday’s pre-dawn sweep of the Occupy Oakland encampment, which resulted in about 80 arrests, came after the diverse community of protesters refused to allow police and fire officials – as well as at least two ambulance crews – access to the area to provide services, city officials said.
Oakland had issued repeated warnings to the campers over the last week, citing an increase in public urination and defecation, rats and fire hazards from cooking. The greatest concern, however, stemmed from violence.
When the camp took shape Oct. 10, things were relatively harmonious – City officials, including Mayor Jean Quan, asserted their support for the protesters’ free-speech rights and the movement’s values. A children’s “village” was set up, along with a kitchen and “school” in which to conduct workshops.
Homeless individuals and families who had been living in the area were embraced by the makeshift community and became a part of it.
On October 17, the first sexual assault was reported. But camp leaders declined to allow police and fire officials to conduct patrols.
By the following day, city officials said in a statement: “We began to receive numerous complaints of threatening, intimidating behavior… public health and safety requirements were being ignored.”
More sexual offenses, fighting and public drunkenness were reported. Officials also said one resident of the encampment had been severely beaten.
On Friday, Oakland demanded that protesters cease overnight camping. After a brief warning before Tuesday’s raid, about 30 of the 350 people present left voluntarily – officials said.
Those who helped build the encampment were distressed by the decision to tear it down, noting that tensions were being resolved internally and had led to uncommonly frank conversations about class, race, and gender during repeated public assemblies and committee meetings.
“There were internal problems, but we were working it out” – said Kerie Campbell, 46, who co-founded the children’s village and had set up a similar tent filled with donated toys, clothes and snacks at an ancillary encampment near Lake Merritt that also was raided Tuesday.

Dozens of police in riot gear and hundreds of protesters in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse in downtown Oakland on Tuesday, with authorities using tear gas to respond to demonstrators’ repeated agitations.
The latest such skirmish came around 10:30 PDT as some protesters began throwing bottles among a crowd that had reconvened in front of City Hall, where a haze of chemical smoke still hung in the air following a similar clash about an hour earlier only blocks away. Police briefly dispersed a crowd heading back toward the downtown area where an Occupy Wall Street encampment was dismantled earlier in the day.
Helicopters scanned the area late Tuesday and scores of officers wearing helmets and carrying clubs patrolled the streets as protesters gathered only a few feet away.
Authorities are denying reports that they used flash bang canisters to help break up the crowd – saying the loud noises came from large firecrackers thrown at police by protesters.
Oakland’s City Hall was the site of conflict throughout the day. Authorities used a pre-dawn raid to dismantle an Occupy Wall Street encampment that had taken over a plaza outside the government headquarters for more than two weeks. Police removed about 170 demonstrators who had been staying in the area overnight after repeatedly being warned that such a camp was illegal and they faced arrest by remaining. City officials said – 97 people were arrested in the morning raid.
In less than an hour, the 2-week-old, miniature makeshift city was in ruins. Scattered across the plaza in front of City Hall were overturned tents, pillows, sleeping bags, yoga mats, tarps, backpacks, food wrappers and water bottles. Signs decrying corporations and police still hung from lampposts or lay on the ground.
Later Tuesday, hundreds of protesters gathered at a library and marched through downtown Oakland. They were met by police officers in riot gear, and several small skirmishes broke out.
The protesters eventually made their way back to City Hall for a game of cat-and-mouse as dusk approached. Police later threw flash bang canisters and fired more tear gas as the crowd dispersed up the street.
“It’s really, really tense and I think the cops are trying to walk a fine line, but I don’t think they are going to back down and neither are the demonstrators” – said Cat Brooks, an organizer. “We’re on the move. For now.”