According to the blog of Occupy Oakland, the organization took over the much-talked-about abandoned lot in Downtown Oakland’s Uptown District, and bordered by Telegraph and 18th Avenues next to the Fox Theater and the Uptown Apartments.
Occupy Oakland reports that:
Occupy Oakland regained its momentum today in multiple actions with visible union support and peaceful, joyous and angry protestors taking to the streets again. As of 6 pm they were celebrating in a liberated vacant lot at 19th and Telegraph to the sounds of hip hop, drumming, dance music and marching bands. Some neighbors in the Uptown development welcomed the arrival with signs of support and danced in their balconies. Police quickly withdrew to the perimeter when the thousands of protestors arrived…Demonstrators made quick work of the fence, carefully removing children’s artwork and rolling up the chain links in orderly piles. Others took down the NO TRESPASSING signs as souvenirs. One security volunteer quickly inscribed a new sign on the other side (the side made for you and me as Guthrie used to sing) informing police that this was now a no police trespassing zone.
What’s interesting is the blog account runs somewhat counter to the report from ABC Channel 7, that some Uptown Apartment people objected to the takeover of the Uptown property.
As an aside, it’s an abandoned area not used at all – why fuss over it? This is just costing more taxpayer money in the form of police time.
Basically, the Occupy Oakland protestors did more than just “liberate a vacant lot,” they also marched all the way to the Lake Merritt area, where they met at the Splash Pad Park next to the Grand Lake Theater.
Here’s some of the video posted from those actions yesterday:
In closing, Oakland Police came in to take over the Uptown property at 6 AM this Sunday morning.
Stay tuned.