"Occupy" demonstrators rally around injured vet

More than 1,000 people attended candlelight vigil for Scott Olsen Ghursday in Oakland / AP Photo/Noah Berger

OAKLAND, Calif. -- At least 1,000 people gathered in Oakland in honor of the Iraq war veteran who was seriously injured in a confrontation between police and anti-Wall Street demonstrators.

Many in the crowd held candles during last night's vigil for 24-year-old Scott Olsen, who's in the hospital with a fractured skull. His condition has been upgraded to fair.

Olsen was hurt Tuesday night as police in riot gear met protesters who were trying to return to the area near Oakland's City Hall where they had been camping out.

Fellow veterans say Olsen was struck in the head by a projectile fired by police, but that hasn't been confirmed. Officials are investigating exactly where the projectile came from.

The Marine veteran, who won medals in Iraq, has become a rallying cry for the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators across the country.

Complete Coverage: Occupy Wall Street

Protesters also held a vigil in Las Vegas that drew a handful of police officers.

Afterward, protesters invited the officers for a potluck dinner. "We renewed our vow of nonviolence," organizer Sebring Frehner said.

Elsewhere across the United States, officials took steps to close some of the protest camps that have sprung up in opposition to growing economic inequality.

Authorities in Tennessee made about 30 arrests early Friday at the site where a few dozen Wall Street protesters had been encamped for about three weeks in Nashville, protesters said.

Authorities began moving in a little after 3 a.m. using a newly enacted state policy that set a curfew for the grounds near the state Capitol, including Legislative Plaza where the protesters had been staying in tents.

The state's new rules specifically ban "overnight occupancy" at the public space and require permits and use fees for rallies.

Katy Savage, one of the protesters, said she peeked out of her tent around 3 a.m. saw that the camp was surrounded by state troopers.

"I was grabbing our stuff to try to get it off the area," she said.

Savage said people who had already decided they would get arrested sat down together and began singing "We Shall Overcome" as troopers dragged some of them to waiting buses.

About 20 protesters, who remained on a sidewalk, were not arrested and were still there later in the morning.

Asked about the arrests, Savage said she was "disgusted and disappointed."

"This was a group of brilliant, wonderful people that I had come to know as family, practicing democratic decision-making on public space. And for that they were dragged away in handcuffs," Savage said.

Even as the vigil was held in Oakland, protest organizers prepared to defy Oakland's prohibition on overnight camping at a plaza near City Hall.

Shake Anderson, an organizer with Occupy Oakland, said half a dozen tents were erected on the plaza Thursday evening where police armed with tear gas and bean bag rounds disbanded a 15-day-old encampment Tuesday. More tents, food and supplies arrived during the meeting and vigil for Scott Olsen, with about 25 tents erected late Thursday.

"We believe in what we're doing," Anderson said. "No one is afraid. If anything, we're going to show there's strength in numbers."

Few police were seen in the area during late Thursday night, though Oakland Mayor Jean Quan issued a statement asking protesters not to camp at the plaza.

In the statement, she also "apologized for the outcome of Tuesday night's demonstration, in which a heavy police presence kept protesters out of the plaza with tear gas, smoke grenades and rubber bullets," reports CBS station KPIX-TV in San Francisco.

"It was not what anyone hoped for, ultimately it was my responsibility, and I apologize for what happened," the statement read.

She said city officials have started an investigation into the use of force by police Tuesday night.

Protesters at San Francisco's Justin Herman Plaza braced for a police raid early Thursday that never came. Still, police have warned the protesters that they could be arrested on a variety of sanitation or illegal camping violations.

Officials told protesters in Providence, R.I., that they were violating multiple city laws by camping overnight at a park.

Anti-Wall Street protesters camped out in downtown Los Angeles said they're planning to continue their demonstration indefinitely, although both they and the mayor's office were eyeing alternate sites.

Meanwhile, Olsen has been improving. Doctors transferred him from the emergency room to an intensive care unit and upgrading his condition to fair.

Dr. Alden Harken, chief surgeon at Alameda County Medical Center, said Olsen was still unable to speak but had improved dramatically since he was hospitalized unconscious with a fractured skull and bruised brain that caused seizures.

By Thursday afternoon, Harken said, Olsen was interacting with his parents, who flew in from Wisconsin in the morning, doing math equations and otherwise showing signs of "high-level cognitive functioning." The doctor said he may require surgery, but that's unlikely.

• no previous page
• next

1/2

[LibbyBuck]

How is this guy? I haven't heard a word about him for a month and I've gotta have an update on his condition. Anyone???

Please update this story.

Thank you,

Libby

[noloyalisti]

I was in Oakland the night after the Police Riots and at least 3,000 people came. Early on I predicted that the more resistance to the Movement the bigger and stronger the movement will get. People can join and support the 99% now or they can do it later, it's a free country (still in spite of what the Top 1% and the Republicons in Congress want).

[greco99-2009]

In the videos you can see a police officer throw a concussion (flash-bang) grenade at the unarmed and non-threatening people who come to help the injured protester, Scott Olsen.

I think any reasonable legal analysis shows that the police officer who threw the grenade and who was not threatened, breaking the law by using illegal force.

This officer should be arrested and prosecuted. Both the officer, and the city has enormous civil liability for this irresponsible and illegal activity.

The entire world sees what has happened, and the officer who threw the grenade is a disgrace to his profession and an insult to good police officers everywhere.

[greco99-2009]

Was Scott Olsen targeted deliberately ?

[noloyalisti]

As some at the General Assembly said, many in the police are brainwashed and rewarded for being violent, reactionary animals. Even though they are part of the 99%, they have been trained to be narrow minded protectors of the moneyed interests.

[sandiegopete]

These rightists are calling Scott Olsen a communist muslim. It shows how little they have to offer in the way of rebuttal to the Occupy Wall Street position that 1% of the population has hijacked the nation. We are governed by a small group of very wealthy individuals who have as their only aim the exploitation the middle class.

The people of the OWS movement are everyday working Americans, most of whom have day jobs like Mr. Olsen and demonstrate at night.

[OrangPuteh]

Lampposts are designed to bear the weight of tyrants.

[morriswise]

The rich bad guys are not concerned with the problems of the poor good guys. Corporate gains are increasing the wealth of the rich bad guys as the poor good guys worry about paying their bills. A revolution of the poor good guys is needed. They would close the bank accounts of the rich bad guys and share that wealth with all the good guys.

[missyfive]

Occupy Wall Street needs to stay focused on getting jobs back from overseas. Corporate America loves to ship jobs to India and China while our young people, recent college grads, have no jobs here in the U.S. Stay focused people.

[greco99-2009]

One_american is actually Mitt Romney. He thinks the solution to the financial crises is predatory leveraged buyouts combined with union busting and 'offshoring'.

[RDriftwood]

Many of the jobless were laid off because their jobs were outsourced to other countries. That doesn't make them lazy, or bums, or hippies.

[RDriftwood]

By getting arrested, the OWS people keep their cause in the news. It's a big sacrifice but they want an end to financial and political corruption. Why would anyone NOT want to get rid of the corruption - no matter what their political affiliation? Unless they are corrupt...

[koenigma1]

China's military clear Tiananmen Square, policemen drive protesters from Cairo's Tahrir Square,
President Obama condemned the use of violence against protesters and said the U.S. was speaking with other countries about possible actions.

Where's the difference?