Oakland Becomes Epicenter of Occupy Movement: Thousands March in ‘General Strike’Banks, Ports Targeted. OAKLAND, Calif. (The Blaze/AP) — Thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters escalated their tactics beyond marches, rallies and tent camps Wednesday and moved to disrupt the flow of goods at the nation’s fifth-busiest port. Protesters were arrested as they held a sit-in at the headquarters of cable giant Comcast in Philadelphia. Military veterans marched in uniform in New York, angry at their dim job prospects. And parents and their kids, some in strollers, formed a “children’s brigade” to join the Oakland, Calif. rallies. “There’s absolutely something wrong with the system,” said Jessica Medina, a single mother who attends school part time and works at an Oakland cafe. “We need to change that.” In Los Angeles, New York and other cities, demonstrators planned their own rallies in solidarity with the Oakland protesters, who called for Wednesday’s “general strike” after the city became a rallying point last week when an Iraq War veteran was injured in clashes with police.
Oakland Police ‘Confused’ Over Mayor Quan’s Handling of Occupy Protests. If protesting for weeks on end were not enough, Occupy Oakland is now organizing a general strike to “liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%” — and sadly, Mayor Jean Quan seems to be on board. The City of Oakland has advised all businesses to “leave the cash drawer empty and open after business hours” and has even given all city employees off — except the police that is. The understandably confounded Oakland Police Officers Association posted the following open letter to Quan on their site, questioning why the city plans to beef up its police presence at strike-related events while giving other city workers an opportunity to participate in the strikes themselves. “Is it the City’s intention to have City employees on both sides of a skirmish line?” The letter said. On Tuesday, October 25th, we were ordered by Mayor Quan to clear out the encampments at Frank Ogawa Plaza and to keep protesters out of the Plaza.
Below is a CNNMoney report from inside Occupy Oakland: “We’re set to fail on this.” » Oakland Police Respond to #OccupyOakland, City Officials - Big Government. Oakland Activists Regroup and Call for General Strike. OccupyOakland Protesters Surround, Attack Police With Paint Bombs. OccupyOakland Protesters Threaten Reporter; Cameras Would Be Stolen, Broken If Media Enters Tent City. OccupyOakland Confrontations with Media Continue; Reporter Bitten by Protester’s Dog. We All Occupy. OccupyOakland ‘Real Talk’: This ‘F*cked Up System’ Makes Us Racist, Violent. OccupyOakland Protesters Promote Communist, Socialist Ideals. Strike - Occupy Oakland. » #OccupyOakland Sent Eviction Notice by City Hall; Protesters Defiant - Big Government. Occupy Wall Street Protesters to Target News Corp. Shareholder Meeting.
Occupy Wall Street is about to morph into Occupy Fox Studios. On Thursday, Occupy Los Angeles, an offshoot of the activist group’s main effort in New York, encouraged sympathizers to descend upon the News Corp. shareholders’ meeting to protest “one-sided reporting” at the company’s Fox News Channel subsidiary. PHOTOS: The Scene at Occupy Los Angeles The shareholders' meeting is set for Friday in Los Angeles and top executives and board members are expected to attend.
The Occupiers are also angry with the giant media conglomerate over a phone-hacking scandal that spelled the demise of News of the World, a U.K. newspaper, and they are calling on the entire News Corp. board, which includes founder Rupert Murdoch, to step down. PHOTOS: The Scene at Occupy Wall Street The shareholders’ meeting is set for 10 a.m. at Fox Studios, and the Occupy Los Angeles Web site provides a map and parking instructions for would-be rabble-rousers.