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So they are rebuilding...

Tension remains at Occupy Oakland even as action abates


OAKLAND -- The volatile Occupy Oakland movement experienced something of a detente Thursday as protesters, police and city officials retrenched under the world's increasingly critical eyes.

Protesters started rebuilding a tent city that had been removed by police Tuesday night at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, in front of City Hall. Mayor Jean Quan, whose approval of the raid brought condemnation from pundits and protesters, was quiet Thursday amid questions over whether the camp would be allowed to remain on the plaza.

Meanwhile, an Iraq War veteran who was critically injured by a projectile believed to be fired or thrown by police Tuesday prepared for surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. Scott Olsen, a 24-year-old former Marine, had improved slightly Thursday at Highland Hospital and was able to breathe on his own for the first time since the injury, said his roommate, Keith Shannon of Daly City.

Several tents were back up in the plaza by Thursday afternoon and occupiers were expanding a shrine to Olsen built around the base of a memorial to military veterans.

Vita McDonnell, 24, who was arrested in Tuesday morning's raid of the encampment, brought a box of candles and notebook in which she is asking people to write notes of encouragement to Olsen and reflections of events of the past several days.

"He was protesting our arrests," said McDonnell, a health-care assistant. "I felt very touched by it. This is really something I had to
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do."

Tuesday morning's police raid "felt like we were under attack. It was like a war zone," she said. After 13 hours in custody, mostly at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, she was released with a citation of unlawful assembly, she said.

As protesters held vigils and expressed anger over Olsen's injury, police were tight-lipped Thursday about the incident. Oakland's interim police chief, Howard Jordan, said investigators were still piecing together accounts from more than a dozen police
departments that sent officers to Oakland for the raid on the encampment.

Olsen's injury prompted vehement anger toward police during protesters' march around the city Wednesday night, but Jordan would not speculate whether the Daly City man had been hit by a police projectile such as a tear-gas canister, rubber bullet, wooden dowel or something else. At least one police department suggested officers may not be to blame for the incident.

"I haven't seen much, but given the nature of that individual's injuries, I'm wondering if he wasn't struck by something thrown by a demonstrator," said Chief Dennis Burns, of the Palo Alto Police Department.

Oakland police violated their own crowd-control rules, which call for medical services to be available when tear gas and other control measures are used, said Jim Chanin, a civil-rights attorney who has fought for police reform.

Thursday's lull left more questions than answers about the future of Occupy Oakland, which has leapt to the forefront of the nationwide Occupy movement targeting banks, big business and a slate of other social and economic issues. The East Bay protests have captivated talk-show hosts such as Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann, and documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced Thursday on Twitter that he would arrive at the Oakland site Friday.