In Oakland, California where the Occupy Wall Street movement has spawned a series of intense demonstrations, Mayor Jean Quan has run out of ways to try and put out the flames of the fiery protests.
As Occupy Wall Street shows no signs of slowing down — and some say Saturday's march in Oakland only added momentum to the movement after hundreds were arrested — Mayor Quan continues to be clueless on how to handle the demonstrations. Now the city leader is appealing to other Occupy movements across the country to disown Occupy Oakland in hopes of finally extinguishing the demonstrations that have scarred her administration due to overzealous arrests and the repeated firing of projectiles at peaceful protesters.
On Saturday, around 400 Occupy Oakland protesters were arrested by the OPD after a march through the city turned violent. For hours, police fired tear-gas and non-lethal projectiles into crowds of protesters, kettled demonstrators with nets and issued massive arrests on as many occupiers as they could. The aftermath, specifically the tally of arrests, were picked up by the mainstream media. Even before the weekend's incident, however, Mayor Quan told a local television station that she was sick and tired of the movement. As opponents of her administration continue to call her out on her lackluster handling of the demonstration, Quan says she will call on other Occupy movements to help calm the protests in Oakland.
"I plan to call some of the national leadership of Occupy this week to say that the Oakland group is not nonviolent and has not agreed to be nonviolent," Quan tells KCBS. "The national Occupy movement has said they are nonviolent."
Unfortunately for Mayor Quan, the national Occupy movement has by-and-large agreed (and insisted) several times that they are leaderless, so she might have a hard time trying to track them down.
Also according to the mayor, ongoing protests in Oakland have caused millions of dollars to the city by forcing her to up police presence to monitor the demonstrations. As her popularity wanes and she tries to find ways to salvage her administration, Quan tells KCBS that the protests are drying up the city's funds. In addition to alleged acts of violence, Quan adds that the city is financially being ravaged due to her attempts to handle the movement.
[...]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment