"Kill Cops" Thousands of "peaceful" Obama socialists march in Oakland in May Day protest

[Obama's America]

Thousands marched throughout Oakland Tuesday in a kaleidoscopic
variety of protests ranging from skirmishes with police to
dancing, chanting throngs of demonstrators peacefully waving
signs calling for an end to economic inequality and a
strengthening of worker rights.

The daylong series of events on May Day was part of a Bay Area-
wide - and worldwide - recognition of International Workers Day,
and involved groups that included Occupy demonstrators,
immigrant rights supporters and unions.

Downtown, the day started tensely with hundreds of Occupy
demonstrators amassing at and around City Hall. Police Chief
Howard Jordan called for mutual aid from area police agencies by
9 a.m., and around lunchtime the first of several brief but
volatile clashes with police erupted.

Twenty-three people were arrested, including one for suspicion
of felony assault on a peace officer and one for suspicion of
burning a police car.

Some protesters shoved against police lines with black shields
bearing an "A" for anarchy. Some threw objects at officers,
surrounded police cars and pounded on them. In one case, a
protester dressed in black threatened an officer with a pole.

Police responded with limited launches of tear gas and flash-
bang grenades, and in a more decisive and focused manner than in
previous protests, they quickly swarmed individuals to take them
into custody.

Meanwhile, most protesters around City Hall remained peaceful,
some even throwing flowers at the cops' feet or staying away
from the conflicts.

Point of the protest

The point of the day, many said, was not so much to clash with
police as it was to enunciate a desire for a greater expansion
of worker opportunity and prosperity.

"I feel like our government doesn't respond to or represent the
people," said one marcher, 34-year-old Jenny Roads, who carried
her 20-month-old son Dominic. "It represents corporations, or
whoever happens to be paying the most money."

Miles away in the mostly Latino district of Fruitvale, several
thousand supporters of immigrant rights gathered at the BART
station in the early afternoon to kick off their annual May Day
rally. Organized by Dignity and Resistance, an immigrant-rights
organization, it featured Aztec dancers, ice cream carts and
mariachi music and also included unions and other groups.

The group had originally intended to all head downtown, but many
said they changed their minds as Occupy protesters joined their
group at San Antonio Park on Foothill Boulevard at 17th Avenue.

"This march is about immigration and labor," said Miguel Perez
of San Francisco, a representative of Dignity and Resistance.
"It's not Occupy."

Still, some of the immigrant-rights marchers finished their
journey to City Hall, walking alongside the Occupy
demonstrators. Police estimated the nightfall crowd at Frank
Ogawa Plaza at about 3,500.

Earlier in the day, one group of Occupy protesters started out
in the Uptown neighborhood north of City Hall and took issue
with the gentrification of some of the city's neighborhoods.

"The city of Oakland has pushed lower-income folks out of this
area," said William Hastings, 23, a college student. "The city
is spending money trying to enrich this area, whereas people in
these other neighborhoods can't get basic things fixed, like
potholes."

That group marched to Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe on 18th Street,
where activists tried to march into the restaurant, which is
partly owned by Green Day's bassist Mike Dirnt. Servers pushed
the protesters out of the cafe while diners looked on in shock.

"We are here today because capitalism has destroyed basic human
need," said a 20-year-old protester who only identified himself
as Connor. "I am sort of into the libertarian/communist thing
myself."

Police Chief Jordan said a Bank of America branch and a Bank of
the West branch were vandalized.

Skirmishes

The tensest moments of the day came when protesters - mostly in
black, many wearing masks - tussled with police.

"The tempo of the crowd was a lot more assertive, a lot more
aggressive" than in past demonstrations involving Occupy groups,
Chief Jordan said in an afternoon press conference.

The first major scuffle between police and protesters erupted at
12:15 p.m. when police detained at least three people and used a
stun gun on at least one person after a crowd surrounded
officers trying to arrest a protester at 14th Street and
Broadway. Protesters threw plastic bottles at officers and broke
windows on an unmarked police van and a TV news van. One officer
was hit by a yellow paintball.

Police ordered protesters out of the street after firing tear
gas and flash-bang grenades.

"When our patrol wagon came to make arrests, they were
surrounded," said Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman.

Officers fired the tear gas and flash-bang grenades "to gain the
attention of the crowd and stop them, which was effective," she
said. "The officers were able to take the arrestees and to leave
the area."

Then at about 2:20 p.m., about 200 protesters at 14th and Clay
streets confronted police in riot gear. The front line of
protesters was mostly dressed in black, many carrying metal
black shields, and they pushed against the police. Meanwhile,
other protesters threw flowers at the feet of the officers.

The face-off escalated with a group surrounding an unmarked
police car with Capt. Jeff Israel inside. The protesters pushed
and hit the car until it left, and then the crowd turned to a
marked patrol unit and pushed and hit it until officers emerged
from it to confront them.

One protester rushed an officer with a raised metal bar,
threatening him. The officer then pointed what appeared to be a
beanbag gun at the protester, who retreated.

Hours later, as the final rally of the day was winding down in
Frank Ogawa Plaza at City Hall at 8:30 p.m., many in the crowd
of several hundred hit officers with bottles when they went to
arrest a man. He was under a court restraining order, from
earlier Occupy protests, to stay away from City Hall, police
said.

"The bulk of the crowd surged forward" and "interfered with that
lawful arrest," said Sgt. Chris Bolton. After arresting the man,
officers ordered the crowd to disperse - after herding many up
Broadway, most appeared to have gone away by 9:30 p.m.

One police car was lit on fire at 16th Street and San Pablo
Avenue as the crowd disappeared, and Ogawa Plaza was left
covered in trash and graffiti including, "Kill Cops" and "Keep
Hope Alive."

Varied opinions

Opinions of the day's events varied among the protesters.

Some said the only significant violence that happened was
instigated by police, and they insisted that any violence
started by protesters was within acceptable realms considering
their cause. Others said violence was not acceptable in any form.

"Any violence by the people is minuscule compared to the
violence of the state," said one 25-year-old Oakland man, who
wore a black mask and - like many in black - would not give his
name. "Martin Luther King wouldn't have had a mediating power if
not for the militant influence of Malcolm X. When people in
Egypt fight back, Americans cheer. But when it happens here they
call it violence and condemn it."

UC Berkeley student Amanda Young, 38, said she was glad to
protest, but deplored the vandalism.

Walking past a fast-food restaurant that was vandalized Tuesday,
she said, "That really bums me out.

"I feel like the way to get the public to listen to what we have
to say is to find commonalities," she said. "When the cops beat
us down, the public might just listen. But when there are broken
windows and vandalism, the public says to themselves, 'What a
bunch of idiots.' "

Matthai Kuruvila, Demian Bulwa, Carolyn Jones and Kevin Fagan
are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers.
mkur...@sfchronicle.com, dbu...@sfchronicle.com,
caroly...@sfchronicle.com, kfa...@sfchronicle.com. Chronicle
staff writers Jill Tucker, Vivian Ho, Michael Cabanatuan and
Will Kane contributed to this report.

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco
Chronicle

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