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‘This was peaceful until you came’: Occupy Oakland protesters hit with tear gas by police
Police in riot gear clashed with protesters in Oakland on Thursday, firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators lingering in the streets after a day of mostly peaceful rallies against economic inequality and police brutality.
The confrontation, which erupted after midnight, appeared aimed at preventing the protesters from expanding their foothold in the streets around a public plaza that has become a hub for demonstrations in the largely working-class city on the eastern banks of San Francisco Bay.
More than 200 officers, some ferried downtown aboard buses, lined up shoulder to shoulder and donned gas masks, then declared the crowd to be an “unlawful assembly” and fired volleys of tear gas as protesters turned and ran. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)
Police fire tear gas at Occupy Oakland protesters
Police fired tear gas and bean bags to disperse hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland, near San Francisco, Tuesday evening, police and an AFP photographer said.
Columns of white smoke filled the streets and loud bursts echoed off the buildings as the demonstrators scattered before riot police, who had earlier arrested scores of protesters and had repeatedly warned them to disperse.
At least one protester fell to the ground, bleeding from the head and unconscious, after being struck by a tear gas canister. He was later dragged off by fellow protesters, the photographer said. (Photo: Stephen Lam/Reuters)
Related:
Canadian cities at a loss on how to end Occupy protests
Photos of the day
Riot police stand guard after been attacked with paint bombs during a demonstration by students and teachers on Sept. 7, 2011, in Bogota, Colombia. (Guillermo Legaria/AFP/Getty Images)
Why so serious, riot police?
A student plays with a toy gun in front of a line of riot police officers during protests in Santiago, Chile, on August 25, 2011, during a 48-hour national strike. (Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images)
A demonstrator is detained by riot police during anti-austerity protests in Athens, June 29, 2011. (John Kolesidis/Reuters)
Greece passes crucial austerity vote
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou clinched enough votes to pass the first part of an austerity plan aimed at meeting European Union aid requirements and staving off default for his debt-laden nation.
Clouds of gas engulfed the square outside parliament as lawmakers voted on a package whose defeat could have led to the euro area’s first sovereign default. Greece needs to cover 6.6 billion euros of maturing bonds in August and government officials have said they may lack the money to pay wages and pensions by mid-July.
Riot officers and hooded youths with clubs have clashed over the past two days as crowds swelled to more than 20,000 and some protesters fought police, broke windows at a McDonald’s Corp. restaurant and burned two vans.
Photos of the Day, May 11, 2011
Riot policemen run through a cloud of teargas to avoid fire from an exploding Molotov cocktail during clashes with youths in central Athens May 11, 2011. Police fired teargas at dozens of youths hurling stones in central Athens on Wednesday as a 24-hour general strike against an EU/IMF prescribed austerity brought much of Greece to a halt during talks on the next slice of a bailout package. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)
Photos of the day, April 14, 2011
A supporter of Uganda’s Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leader Kizza Besigye falls as he is attacked by a military policeman during riots in the Kasangati suburb of the capital Kampala, April 14, 2011. Ugandan police fired teargas to disperse a crowd that gathered after the opposition leader was prevented from taking part in a second round of protests over rising fuel and food prices, witnesses said. (James Akena/Reuters)
Photos of the day, March 24, 2011
A demonstrator falls after getting sprayed by water canons as he tries to face the riot police during a protest in Brussels, March 24, 2011. Tens of thousands of people marched through Brussels to urge European leaders holding a two-day summit in the Belgian capital to scrap or ease austerity measures, which unions say will slow economic recovery and punish the poor. (Thierry Roge/Reuters)
