Call for a general strike
Give lots of credit to Oakland protesters for having the courage and discipline to regroup peacefully last night in the amphitheater in front of City Hall. Thankfully they haven't let the outrageous assault by Mayor Quan's cops terrorize them or divert them from their mission. It would be too easy to make police brutality THE issue now. Instead the 99ers spent several hours planning for a meeting today to discuss the mechanics for a general strike next week.
The Oakland Tribune reports:
After Tuesday night's violence, hundreds of Oakland residents appeared to have come out to help transform Occupy Oakland from a relatively disorganized, loose-knit movement to a broad-based community drive to implement a general strike. What the protesters are hoping for is the support of unions, teachers, students and workers to shut down the city next Wednesday.
"I think the police brutality drew a lot of people out of the hills and into the streets," said Josh Chavanne, 29, a freelance Web designer from Oakland. "There is nothing like a little inhumanity to turn on people's humanity."
Who's advising Quan?
I can't help wondering who advised
Mayor Quan -- "I've got it. Let's attack protest with rubber bullets, gas, and flash grenades. That'll work." -- Quan who is now facing a growing recall movement, denies she was in on the planning for, what
Morning Joe's Mike Barnicle called, "a police riot." It turns out that Tuesday morning, while plans were being made for the attack on the protests, Quan was actually
at the White House on "city business."
Someone should check this but I think Mayor Quan is the Oakland mayor who instructed the police to ticket cars parked facing the wrong way on the street; except, of course, in upscale white neighborhoods. The rich can park anyway they want.
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