“Police union pleads for Occupy Oakland to disband as authorities investigate homicide near camp”

Taken from: http://www.mercurynews.com/occupy-oakland/ci_19314944

November 11, 2011

OAKLAND — As police work to identify the young man shot and killed near the Occupy Oakland encampment Thursday night, the police union president is asking protesters to leave so officers can get back to “protecting the citizens of Oakland.”

A man in his 20s, who Occupy Oakland media team member Shon Kae said was not camping at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, was shot and killed at 14th and Broadway, not far from the 30-day-old Occupy Oakland camp, about 5 p.m. Thursday.

Police said Friday night that one of the suspects in the shooting has been seen at the encampment at different times in the past several days. Police released descriptions of the two suspects Friday. Both are African-American. One is 20 to 25 years old, 5 feet 9 inches, 150 pounds and has short hair. The other is in his 20s to 30s, 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches, 250 pounds, has long dreadlocks with red tips, possibly a tattoo on the back of his neck and is wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. Anyone with information can call police at 510-238-3529.

The name of the victim has not been released by police pending notification of his family. He may have been in a fight with another man before he was killed, but police are still investigating the incident and have released no details. No one has been arrested.

A shrine was set up near the spot where the man was shot, and people have left notes and lit about 100 candles in his honor.

This is the first slaying near the camp, but there have been fights, reports of sexual assaults, rat infestations and other unsafe and unhealthy conditions at the camp, which started on Oct. 10, was torn down by police on Oct. 25 and then rebuilt a day later.

In a letter Friday, the Oakland Police Officers Association, or OPOA, said the 645 Oakland police officers the union represents have had enough. ”In light of yesterday’s violence, enough is enough. What more needs to happen? We would like to see the protesters leave peacefully,” said OPOA President Sgt. Dom Arotzarena. The letter, posted on the union website at opoa.org, says police officers understand and sympathize with Occupy Oakland’s message and respect their right to peaceful protest. ”We are also sworn to protect the citizens of Oakland. Right now, Oakland is in a state of emergency,” the letter says. ”Our police officers are the 99 percent struggling in Oakland neighborhoods every day to contain the 1 percent who rob, steal, rape and murder our law-abiding citizens.” ”In an average city in California, this might not be of emergency proportions for its citizens. Oakland is not an ‘average city’ — we have the highest violent crime rate in California. We are the 5th most violent city in the United States — with more shootings and homicides than any city west of the Mississippi,” the letter says.

Mayor Jean Quan, most of the City Council and downtown business leaders have also made pleas for campers to pack up and leave.

The slaying Thursday marked 101 homicides in Oakland this year. At this time last year, there were 76 homicides. The city has spent more than $1 million since the Occupy Oakland encampment started.

During the Oct. 25 raid and the subsequent clash between protesters and police, when more than 100 were arrested, police also called on at least 15 other police agencies for help. ”It is time for us to stop directing all of our efforts at policing the small enclave of Occupy Oakland and get back to our job of protecting the citizens of Oakland in the neighborhoods where our residents live,” the letter says.

Occupy Wall Street

Here is a movement that has been happening in New York City and in various other cities in the US. Whether you support it or not, realize that the list of grievances in its official statement are issues that cannot be ignored; if we want a better tomorrow, we have to fix the problems today.

Taken from: http://occupywallst.org/

On October 05, 2011, at 3:00 in the afternoon the residents of Liberty Square will gather to join their union brothers and sisters in solidarity and march. At 4:30 in the afternoon the 99% will march in solidarity with #occupywallstreet from Foley Square to the Financial District, where their pensions have disappeared to, where their health has disappeared to. Together we will protest this great injustice. We stand in solidarity with the honest workers of:

• AFL-CIO (AFSCME)
• United NY
• Strong Economy for All Coalition
• Working Families Party
• TWU Local 100
• SEIU 1199
• CWA 1109
• RWDSU
• Communications Workers of America
• CWA Local 1180
• United Auto Workers
• United Federation of Teachers
• Professional Staff Congress – CUNY
• National Nurses United
• Writers Guild East

And:

• VOCAL-NY
• Community Voices Heard
• Alliance for Quality Education
• New York Communities for Change
• Coalition for the Homeless
• Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP)
• The Job Party
• NYC Coalition for Educational Justice
• The Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center
• The New Deal for New York Campaign
• National People’s Action
• ALIGN
• Human Services Council
• Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
• Citizen Action of NY
• MoveOn.org
• Common Cause NY
• New Bottom Line
• 350.org
• Tenants & Neighbors
• Democracy for NYC
• Resource Generation
• Tenants PAC
• Teachers Unite

Together we will voice our belief that the American dream will live again, that the American way is to help one another succeed. Our voice, our values, will be heard.

***

Official Statement from Occupy Wall Street –  voted on and approved by the general assembly of protesters at Liberty Square: Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!