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.
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 protestors 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 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 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 around 6:00 pm (0100 GMT) 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.
It said other protesters attempted to calm the situation and spoke out against the violence.
“They didn’t have to force police into that situation,” it quoted Helen Walker, a 46-year-old nurse, as saying. “It was totally provoked, and if I could have, I would have stopped those idiots from throwing paint.”
The police statement denied that officers had used rubber bullets or flash-bang grenades.
“The loud noises that were heard originated from M-80 explosives thrown at police by protesters,” it said, adding that officers fired some four bean bag rounds at protesters to stop them from throwing dangerous objects.
Police said they had decided to move in after repeatedly ordering protesters to leave the camp.
“From the start of the demonstration two weeks ago, the City of Oakland focused on facilitating the protesters’ right to free speech and peaceful expression while maintaining public health, safety and crowd control.
“But by the end of last week, it was apparent that overnight camping would have to end due to health and safety issues and continued violations of the law,” said the police statement.
Specifically there were “numerous reports of fighting, assault and threatening/intimidating behavior,” while medical responders were denied access on at least two occasions.
