Keith Olbermann on his show Wednesday night called on Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to fire the city's acting police chief after officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse "Occupy Oakland" protesters.
Police in Oakland repeatedly clashed with demonstrators Tuesday. Early Tuesday morning, hundreds of police officers cleared the protesters out of Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. The "Occupy Oakland" protesters regrouped later that night and marched towards City Hall in an effort to reclaim the site.
Police claimed that some protesters threw rocks, bottles and fireworks at them, which resulted in the declaration of an unlawful assembly and the order to disperse. When the protesters refused to leave, police fired tear gas into the crowd. A Marine veteran was apparently struck in the head with a tear gas canister and is in critical condition.
Olbermann compared Mayor Quan to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who infamously cracked down hard on a protest during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
"There were dead men and women on the streets of this country, and no one wants to see that again," he said.
"The mayor of any city is not out on the front lines with the cops, and not everything they do can be lain a the mayor's feet," Olbermann continued.
"But if one night a group of peaceable protesters exercising the rights given to them in the Constitution - and not rights made up by the cops, for the cops, like lawful command and imminent threat - if they are attacked with tear gas and rubber bullets, and the mayor's only comments are to commend the police chief for a 'generally peaceful resolution to the situation' and after that claim 'democracy is messy' after the unprovoked actions of those police horrify a nation, she is endorsing and assuming for herself the responsibility for whatever havoc the out of control police officers have wrought."
"Mayor Quan is left with two choices, she can dismiss the acting police chief... or she must resign," he concluded.
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Now...who's going to make those words stick?
Here we see the apparent fall of a "reform-minded" politician before our very eyes.
The police, and the shadowy groups they serve, DON'T LIKE DEMONSTRATIONS. And apparently they got to this mayor and got her to agree with their point of view.
The police, if they acted alone, probably did so due to the masses of propaganda I can only imagine they get on their lines about the "security dangers" of public gatherings.
One way or another, they have, at least to some extent, succumbed to those who wish to deprive us of our freedoms with the argument that such freedoms are "just too dangerous" in an age of "unprovoked" terrorist attacks.
This undermining of our civilian police - which has continued to be a problem throughout history - must be understood and exposed. They have guns. They have technology. They have databases. If they go criminal, then the game takes on a whole new aspect. It would force citizens to arm to protect themselves.