This Time, Police Quickly Remove New #OccupyOakland Camp – With Video
Dec 28, 2011 4 Comments ›› Angelia
A new encampment set up overnight on a private piece of property at West Grand and Mandela Parkway in West Oakland has been dissolved after authorities moved in Wednesday evening.
About 15 Oakland police officers guarded the entrance to a lot where protesters once inhabited.
Police put a quick end to the encampment around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Occupy protesters said they researched the lot and found it wasn’t registered, but police say the Occupy demonstrators made a mistake and claim the owner called them and asked for them to remove the protesters and the tents.
There was no resistance when officers handcuffed the protesters.
Most of the protesters were cited for misdemeanor trespassing and were given the chance to remove their belongings. One person was arrested.
Less than 30 days after being shut down by police at Frank Ogawa Plaza, Occupy protesters staked their claim on the new parcel of land, and they even gave it a name.
“This is called the Zion Cypress Triangle,” said protester protester Chris M.
Occupiers are using new methods to control access, carefully screening everyone who enters, making sure that new arrivals meet their criteria.
“There has been no criminal activity,” Chris said. “There has been no drugs, no alcohol. Everything is running properly.”
But frustrated property owners living close by don’t see things that way.
“We’re not thrilled, ’cause we don’t want it to turn into what it turned into a few months back,” said one resident.
The lot has no address, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports the plot was purchased at auction in 2006.
Meanwhile, Occupy protesters expect to announce their next course of action, which may include plans to occupy a building in late January.
