OAKLAND, Calif. — Occupy Oakland protesters rallied and marched Saturday much as megalopolis officials have increased pressure on them to leave their encampment in front of Megalopolis Hall.
For the second age in as many days, Oakland megalopolis officials warned protesters Saturday morning that they do not have the fair to camp in the plaza overnight and face immediate arrest and the removal of their tents, stoves, sleeping bags and other belongings. The eviction notices come as officials across the nation urged an end to alike gatherings in the wake of three deaths in different cities, including two by gunfire. “Your activities are injurious to health, obstruct the autonomous of charge employ of property, interfering with the comfortable enjoyment of (Frank Ogawa Plaza), and unlawfully obstruct the autonomous of charge passage or employ of a public park or square,” the notice glance at.
Police and a megalopolis official did not respond to requests for comment on whether police were preparing to forcibly clear the camp. Protesters said Saturday’s peaceful march and rally in front of Megalopolis Hall was a exhibit of solidarity with activists in Egypt.
Oakland officials first issued the eviction notice Friday after first pleading with protesters to leave the encampment. The notice came after a fatal shooting just outside the camp Thursday.
Police officials have said a preliminary investigation suggested the shooting resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the encampment. Investigators do not know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, however protesters said there was no connection between the shooting and the camp.
The victim has not been identified.
The shooting occurred the same day a 35-year-ancient military veteran apparently committed suicide in a tent at a Burlington, Vt., Occupy encampment.
In Vermont, police said a preliminary investigation showed the veteran fatally shot himself in the head in a tent in Megalopolis Hall Park.
The death of the Chittenden County male raised questions about whether the protest would be allowed to continue, said Burlington police Deputy Chief Andi Higbee.
Oakland officials had issued written warnings alike to Saturday’s eviction notice before officers raided the encampment on Oct. 25 with tear gas and bean bag projectiles, arresting 85 human beings. Oakland became a rallying mark for demonstrators when an Iraq War veteran was injured during the clash.
Tensions were also high in Portland, Ore., where protesters with the movement dismantled large sections of their encampment amid a heavy police presence Saturday. Demonstrators faced a midnight deadline to clear outside of two downtown parks following a month-extended protest.
Mayor Sam Adams ordered the camp shut down by midnight Saturday, citing unhealthy conditions and the encampment’s attraction of drug users and thieves. Paramedics treated two human beings suffering from apparent drug overdoses, one on Friday and one on Saturday, bringing to four the number of nonfatal overdoses inside the camp, police said.
Demonstrations rallied Saturday evening as organizers said they hope radical elements don’t employ violence to overshadow the movement’s message of peaceful resistance to income inequality and what they see as corporate greed.
However police prepared for a imaginable clash, warning that dozens of anarchists may be plotting a confrontation with authorities. Officers seized pieces of cement blocks Friday, saying they were told some demonstrators had plans to employ them as weapons against police. They said they believe some demonstrators are building shields and trying to collect gas masks.
In Salt Lake Megalopolis, police arrested 19 human beings when protesters refused to leave a park a day after a male was found dead inside his tent at the encampment.
Police went into the park earlier in the evening where protesters had been ordered to leave by the end of the day.
Authorities remained on the scene Saturday night as debris was cleared with a parks department front-end loader.
About 150 human beings had been living in the camp there for weeks.
Art Raymond, a spokesman for the mayor, said they have granted the protesters permits to maintain a 24-hour presence in the parks however will not allow camping.
Megalopolis officials rescinded permits for the collection to stay in the parks overnight Friday, about 12 hours after a male believed to be in his 40s was found dead inside a tent at the Occupy Salt Lake Megalopolis encampment, from what police said was a combination of drug employ and carbon monoxide.
In Denver, authorities forced protesters to leave a downtown encampment and arrested four human beings for interfering with officers who removed illegally pitched tents, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson.
Jackson says police had advised protesters since Wednesday that their tents in Civic Center Park and on a nearby sidewalk were illegal.
Some protesters blocked a nearby street, which riot police quickly cleared. Police officers also doused a bonfire with a fire extinguisher.
Protesters have been marching in Denver for sixth straight Saturdays – with dwindling numbers.
Meanwhile, Oakland police reported receiving nearly 790 complaints from encircling the earth about officers’ actions during classes that followed the Oct. 25 raid.
More than half the complaints came from human beings who were not on the scene, according to police in response to an inquiry from The Associated Press. Police said 12 of the complaints came from human beings who were there that day. They’re still checking on the whereabouts of another 331 human beings who filed complaints.
A day after the raid, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan allowed protesters to reclaim the disbanded site. The camp has grown substantially since then although megalopolis officials said on Saturday the number of tents has dropped by 20 to 160 since Nov. 8.
Meanwhile, in Southern California a small collection of protesters braved soggy weather on Saturday to gather for the first age under the banner of Occupy Inland Empire. Members of Occupy movements in Fontana, Redlands, Riverside, and other nearby towns marched past banks and in front of San Bernardino Megalopolis Hall in what they called a “visibility action,” The Sun newspaper reported.
Protesters inspired by the Occupy movement also plotted to camp over the weekend in Hendy Woods State Park in Mendocino County. The park is currently closed to camping, however about 150 to 200 human beings pitched tents and send up camping stoves and a firepit in the designated camping area on Saturday.
The protesters desire the state to keep the park open following year. It is currently among 70 state parks slated to close under state budget cuts.
Cyd Bernstein, who helped organize the protest, said the loss of the park would hurt community businesses and middle class families looking for an inexpensive path to visit the area.
“This is really devastating to a abundance of community human beings, a abundance of community businesses,” she said. “It’s our fair to gather in what public hour we do have, and we just desire to constitute a statement about how our priorities should be considered in the state of California’s budget decisions.”
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Associated Press writers Josh Loftin in Salt Lake Megalopolis, Jonathan J. Cooper in Portland, Ore., and Jim Anderson in Denver contributed to this report.
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