Occupy Oakland Goes Violent after Obama Advisor Urges Militancy | Godfather Politics

Occupy Oakland Goes Violent after Obama Advisor Urges Militancy | Godfather Politics.

November 5, 2011 by da Tagliare

This week, the Occupy Oakland protest turned violent. The protest had moved to the Port of Oakland and successfully shut it down. Protesters then broke into vacant buildings, set fires, broke windows in the downtown area and sprayed graffiti on buildings.

As Oakland police in full riot gear moved in to stop the violence, protesters stared throwing Molotov cocktails, chunks of concrete and metal pipes at the police and fired off roman candles at them. In the melee between the police and the protesters, a number of protesters were injured with four of them ending up hospitalized.

The once peaceful protest turned violent just three days after United Steelworkers International Union president Leo Gerard sent out a public appeal for more militancy. It appears that Gerard got his message through to the mob in Oakland.

Gerard has a history of taking an active role in protests and clashes with the very establishment that supports his union and buys their products. In 1999, Seattle, Washington made the news when they hosted the World Trade Organization meetings at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. Prior to and during the WTO meetings, protestors gathered outside the building. Gerard and United Steelworkers VP Tom Conway were filmed as they drug two large concrete planters into the middle of the intersection to help block access to the meetings.