Occupy campers shout down Oakland council members

Tension escalated between Occupy Oakland and city leaders Wednesday when protesters swarmed a news conference held by five council members who were calling for the immediate dismantling of the encampment outside City Hall.

Protesters shouted, "We are the 99 percent of Oakland!" and drowned out the council members who were standing at a podium but had no sound system.

Councilwoman Desley Brooks then started her own chant, which was repeated by the two dozen members of the clergy, business owners and other council members who had gathered to speak out against the camp. Their chant was "Occupy Oakland must go!"

The chaotic scene at the Lake Merritt bandstand near Children's Fairyland underscored what has been a tumultuous relationship between the city and the month-old encampment, which police cleared out Oct. 25 only to see it return the next day after Mayor Jean Quan ordered officers to back off.

The confrontation angered the council members in attendance: Brooks, Pat Kernighan, Ignacio De La Fuente, Larry Reid and Libby Schaaf.

"This display was indicative of the problem with Occupy Oakland," said Brooks, who perhaps more than any other council member has tried to work with campers. "These are people who believe everybody ought to have a voice, yet they came down here to silence our voices."

Brooks along with other council members took aim at Quan, who was not at the news conference.

"The mayor needs to step up and do her job and get these people out of here," Brooks said. "We will not be held hostage."

Business people and clergy tried to give firsthand accounts of how the encampment is affecting downtown businesses and siphoning off resources from other Oakland neighborhoods. But they could not be heard.

The protesters were led in their shouting by Max Bell Alper, who said he was drawn to the movement because banks have foreclosed on his parents and his uncle and are threatening to do the same to his grandmother.

Alper, 31, said he lives in Berkeley but has spent considerable time at the camp and said he was beaten by police during the Oct. 25 raid.

"My arm still hurts," said Alper, an organizer with Unite Here, a hotel workers union. "Occupy Oakland is a frustration with our current system and hope for the future."

Alper dismissed council members' claims that their voices were silenced.

"We cannot have dialogue when their statement is immediate eviction," Alper said.

Council members tried to continue their news conference but had to shout over protesters. Front and center was Debra Grabelle, 40, an Oakland resident who lives in De La Fuente's district.

Even though it was nearly impossible to hear council members speak, Grabelle dismissed council members' complaint that they didn't have the freedom to speak.

"From my perspective, they're free to speak," said Grabelle, who works for the California Nurses Association. "We're shouting them down because we don't want them to bring thousands of police to downtown Oakland. ... They should allow us to freely assemble."

As the council had its news conference, Quan's spokeswoman walked around the crowd and handed out the latest statement from the mayor. In the statement, Quan, who has wavered on what to do about the Occupy camp, called both for campers to leave and for the city to remove the campers.

"We renew our call on Occupy Oakland to make a decision to leave immediately," Quan's statement began.

But it continued: "While I am pleased to see a consensus developing on the Council to remove the camp, I call on elected leaders who are clamoring for an immediate raid to put forward a plan that does not cause additional injury to people, property and our reputation, or result in another reoccupation. I urge them to join me, the City Administrator, Police Chief and community leaders in implementing a plan to remove the encampment."

Asked if Quan had ever proposed a plan for the removal of the protesters, De La Fuente said, "Hell no."

As council members were being confronted by protesters at the park bandstand, Quan slipped out of City Hall and addressed the encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza, according to her aide, Sue Piper.

But people at the encampment later said they were not aware Quan had visited the camp and were unaware she had issued a statement asking campers to leave.

"It's ridiculous," Stephen Mayfield, 44, an encampment visitor from Vallejo, said after being shown a copy of Quan's statement. "This movement is not going anywhere. I don't care if they put tear gas on us, hoses on us or flash-bang grenades. All it's going to do is intensify the movement. We're fighting injustice."

Later in the evening, Occupy Oakland protesters gathered for their general assembly meeting and withdrew a resolution calling for future demonstrations to remain peaceful. A faction of the protest group has advocated for violence as a "diversity in tactics" approach to demonstrating.

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