OAKLAND, Calif., (Reuters) – Police arrested more than 80 demonstrators early yesterday in overnight clashes in downtown Oakland that followed a day of mostly peaceful Occupy Wall Street protests against economic inequality.
Officials said eight people — five civilians and three policemen — were injured in the violence that left Oakland streets littered with graffiti, smashed glass and debris.
Busloads of police in riot gear advanced on demonstrators after midnight, firing tear gas to disperse hundreds lingering in the streets hours after thousands of protesters forced a temporary shutdown of the busy Port of Oakland.
The clampdown appeared aimed at preventing protesters from expanding their foothold in the streets around a public plaza that has become a hub for demonstrations in Oakland, on the eastern bank of San Francisco Bay.
City officials said police acted in response to a group of agitators who vandalized property, set several fires, assaulted police officers and broke into a downtown building.
“We had the opportunity to isolate the main group of people who seemed to be hiding in the crowd all day,” Mayor Jean Quan told a news conference. “The police, I think, very effectively got in and surrounded and arrested them.”
Activists from the Occupy Oakland movement — aligned with anti-Wall Street protests in New York and other U.S. cities against corporate excesses, high unemployment and bank bailouts — said the vandalism gave police a pretext to intervene. Some blamed “anarchist youths” for the outburst of violence. “Everything went beautiful until these guys (came) with scarves around their mouths, and then all hell broke loose. Our city just got demolished,” said Johnny Allen, 60, a healthcare provider sweeping debris in front of City Hall.
