Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Occupy Oakland: A Picture Blog

Occupiers took over Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland last Monday, October 10th at 4pm.  The plaza is right in front of City Hall, and right behind City Hall is the State Building- where I work.

Every day last week, starting on Tuesday, I came over to the plaza at lunchtime to watch the movement grow.

Tuesday - 10/11 - I saw about 30 tents set up and the beginnings of organization:


Look, they renamed the Plaza:


Information Station Day One


Restroom facilities Day One
(The sign to the right of the tent says: Bathroom)

"The Rules" On Day One



The musicians tent on Day One


Media Tent


Most pimp'n crib on Day One


Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign


Wednesday, 10/12/11, as I walked through the grass and passed people's tents, I heard the beginnings of squabbling. It's hard to co-habitate with others in such close quarters.  Especially if you are pee-ing in a tent.  But people were making the best of it:





And then they no longer had to pee in a tent:



And then there were more signs:






And then the cops came out of a meeting at City Hall and decided to check things out.


Oh yeah, according to his superior, this cop works out. Just trying mess with him.

And some people did:


 I asked one of the cops if they were going to do anything about the camping in the park and he said, "Nah, this is Oakland. It's pretty progressive. As long as people keep the peace, we won't do anything. Shoot, I got family members that would probably be into this."

On Thursday, 10/13/11, I strolled the grounds once again and saw the latest changes to the camp:

Information Station Up and Running


The Rules


The Reads


Religion


Get your exercise!


What are you eating?

And More Signs
And the first official march announced:

"...join us as we pass out propaganda and march on banks and government buildings.."

Hey, I work in a government building, so that made me a little nervous, but when Friday, 10/14/11, actually came and it was time for the rally, it was pretty peaceful and chaos did not erupt like during the Oscar Grant protests.

View from our evil government building


Friday, October 14, 2011, was also the day that while I was taking pictures with my Droid X camera, complete with pink cover, that a girl came up to me giving the peace sign and said, "no press".

I had to laugh.  Uh, really, you think I'm the press? I assured her I was not taking pictures of children, (that seemed to be her main concern) and that I was mostly taking pictures of signs.

But also, they are on public property and I do believe I can snap away.




Friday came and went without a hitch. It was pretty uneventful and I left my office after 6pm and drove past the plaza.  There wasn't alot going on.  Stay tuned for Week 2 Blog...





 





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