Oakland Commune Raided Again

OAKLAND, California – Over the past several days, the Oakland occupation has received a series of eviction notices, as well as inside information that the raid would occur this morning (Monday). Occupiers have been up all night on watch for the police. A few minutes before 3am, they received word that police massing near the Oakland coliseum were on their way over to Oscar Grant Plaza. Around 6am, police began the raid on the encampment. Around 32 people have been arrested including people from an interfaith tent. By 7am, no one was left in the plaza, [except for a single individual with a gas mask on, sitting in a tree house made of pallets]. So far police from Hayward, Santa Clara, and San Jose have been identified aiding the Oakland police.

The Oakland Commune will reconvene at 4pm on the steps of the library, at 14th and Madison.

Oakland has agreed to pay for 700-to-1,000 officers from numerous agencies to be deployed over the next three days, according to an Oakland official who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. The operation was shaping up as the largest and most expensive police action in Oakland in recent memory.

The cost of the operation could reach $1 million, the official said. Combined with the city’s previous effort to evict the protesters, including at least two violent clashes, cleanup and private security that may be hired to prevent the protesters from resettling on the plaza, the overall cost of Occupy Oakland could reach $5 million, he said. (via BayCitizen)