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Occupy Oakland - May Day 2012
May 1, 2012
A thousand or so people, mainly young and/or marginal, gathered in downtown Oakland for May Day 2012.
Small "anti-capitalist" groups did some vandalism at selected sites along Broadway, but mainly the day was festive and raucously peaceful. Police set off flash grenades at one point, telling reporters they had done it "to get people's attention."
Following the flash grenades the police did some maneuvers in an attempt to clear the street (14th and Broadway is as close to a busy intersection as downtown Oakland can muster - which is to say few people were inconvenienced by the street party). Several people were arrested during some small scuffles.
Protesters responded by taking the streets and dancing wherever the cops vacated, eventually forcing the police back down Broadway. The push was led by musicians and dancers, and at no point seemed threatening.
Police backed off, and the party continued. Later in the day hundreds more people marched from Fruitvale (a working class area a couple of miles from downtown) to join the downtown action.
Several hundred people remained as dusk fell. It's likely some actions will continue into the night, although the focus wasn't clear when I left at about 8pm.
Visit Indybay.org for updates.
Occupy Oakland - May Day 2012 - photos by Luke Hauser
Terrifying Occupy Oakland anarchists sieze the intersection at 14th and Broadway.
After setting off flash grenades, cops marched down Broadway. Initially, protesters gave ground.
Here and there, police tried to arrest small knots of protesters.
About eight people were arrested up and down the street, but this group linked arms and held their ground.
Police tried to clear the street, but roving drummers, musicians, and sound systems kept groups of people dancing up and down the block. As the dancers pressed close to the outnumbered police, the cops withdrew about twenty feet.
Dancers moved in, and the cops retreated - eventually giving up the entire block they had just worked so hard to clear.
Police settled for guarding 15th and Broadway, an intersection so boring that Occupy Oakland turned around and marched back to the plaza at 14th.
Clever folks made plastic shields out of cut up trash-cans. They might have looked intimidating except that they painted hearts and peace signs on them. That's a coat of arms I could march behind.
Back at Ogawa Plaza, soup is served.
Meanwhile, over in the West Bay, May Day activists took over Montgomery Street (aka Wall Street West) and created a mural in the heart of downtown San Francisco.
Dusk falls on downtown Oakland.
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Luke Hauser
(aka George Franklin) is a freelance parajournalist in the service of the Goddess and planetary revolution. His photo-filled book Direct Action is an historical novel about Bay Area protests.
Photos ©2011 by RQ. Please do not copy, reproduce, fold, spindle, mutilate, or otherwise use them without written permission (which we are usually glad to offer). Thanks!
