Police fired tear gas and bean bags to disperse hundreds of anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland, near San Francisco, on Tuesday evening, police and a 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: AFP
The protesters later regrouped and started hurling eggs at the riot police, who responded by firing paint-balls at them.
The Oakland Police Department said in a statement that officers fired tear gas after a group of 400-500 protesters attacked them.
“Protesters in the area of 7th and Broadway began throwing paint or other hazardous material at the officers, who deployed gas as a defense tactic ... We have received no reports of injuries at the time of this release,” it said.
Riot police had arrested 85 people early on Tuesday morning as they cleared the Occupy Oakland tent encampment from a square in front of City Hall, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
A police spokeswoman had confirmed the number arrested early on Tuesday morning without providing further details. Contacted late in the evening, she could not provide an update on the number detained.
The protesters had sought to return to the encampment they had occupied for two weeks as part of the growing nationwide demonstrations against alleged corporate greed and government dysfunction.
Scuffles broke out about 6pm when riot police who had blocked the protesters moved to arrest one of them, the Chronicle reported.
Protesters threw turquoise and red paint at the riot police, chanting: “This is why we call you pigs,” the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Georgia, helicopters hovered, shining spotlights on a downtown Atlanta park where police either led away or arrested dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters who had set up an encampment for about two weeks.
Streets were barricaded around Woodruff Park where — as in many US cities — protesters have camped out to rally against what they see as corporate greed and a wide range of other economic issues. Before police marched in, protesters were warned a couple of times about midnight to vacate the park or risk arrest.
Organizers had instructed participants to be peaceful if arrests came, and most were.
Police included SWAT teams in riot gear, dozens of officers on motorcycles and several on horseback.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on Monday said he planned to revoke the permit allowing Occupy Atlanta protesters to live in the park, but was vague about when that might come.
Late on Tuesday, police started surrounding the park at a busy intersection and some protesters gathered up their tents, pillows, sleeping bags and other belongings, saying they didn’t want to lose them. Right after the order to leave, some did, standing outside the barricades.
Reed said he was upset over an advertised hip-hop concert that he said drew 600 people to the park over the weekend, but didn’t have a permit and didn’t have security guards to work the crowd.
He called the concert “the height of irresponsibility.”
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