Elite's will do anything to shut down Occupy sites

http://news.yahoo.com/man-shot-killed-near-occupy-oakland-protest-camp-084248154.html?bouchon=807,ca
Excerpt:

Man shot, killed near Occupy Oakland protest camp

By TERRY COLLINS - Associated Press | AP – 2 hrs 39 mins ago

See latest photos »

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Police are investigating a fatal shooting just outside the Occupy Oakland encampment that is further straining relations between local officials and anti-Wall Street protesters.

A preliminary investigation into the gunfire Thursday that left a man dead suggests it resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the camp on a plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall, police Chief Howard Jordan said.

Investigators do not yet know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but they are looking into reports that some protest participants tried to break up the altercation, Jordan said.
With opinions about the ongoing demonstration and its effect on the city becoming more divided in recent days, supporters and opponents immediately reacted to the homicide — the city's 101st this year.
Camp organizers said the attack was unrelated to their activities, while city and business leaders, cited the death as proof that the camp itself either bred crime or drained law enforcement resources.
Mayor Jean Quan, who has been criticized by residents on both sides for issuing mixed signals about the local government's willingness to tolerate the camp, issued a statement Thursday calling for the camp to shut down.
"Tonight's incident underscores the reason why the encampment must end. The risks are too great," Quan said. "We need to return (police) resources to addressing violence throughout the city. It's time for the encampment to end. Camping is a tactic, not a solution."
For their part, protest leaders said the shooting involved outsiders and was only connected to their ongoing protest of U.S. financial institutions to the extent that poverty breeds violence.
"This one heinous immoral crime should not overshadow all of the good deeds, positive energy and the overall goals that the movement is attempting to establish," Khalid Shakur, 43, who has a tent in the encampment, said.
Before the shooting, protesters were planning to have a party to commemorate the encampment's one-month anniversary with music, dancing, a slide show and donated cakes. Instead, they used candles to spell the name "Alex" and opened a microphone for participants to talk about where the movement is headed.
"It's not a celebration anymore, but a period of reflection," said Leo Ritz-Barr, a member of Occupy Oakland's events committee.
John Lucas, 52, part of an Occupy Oakland medic team, said a fistfight involving several men preceded the gunfire.
"Several people went after one guy, and the group got larger, and they beat him and he ran," Lucas said. "There were six or seven shots. Everyone starts running ... and there was another shot."
Lucas said he and other medics rushed to the wounded man and tried to tend to him until paramedics arrived.
"He was not breathing and there was no heartbeat," he said. "We started CPR."
Jordan said the victim was hit by one bullet and he was pronounced dead at a hospital.

No suspects have been identified, said Jordan, who asked people participating in the protest who may have taken photographs or video that captured the shooting to contact authorities.

The violence came a day after a group of Oakland city and business leaders held a news conference demanding the removal of the encampment, saying it has hurt downtown businesses and has continued to pose safety concerns.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/11/10/Are-Occupy-protests-hurting-the-little-guy/UPI-41951320955364/
Excerpt:

Are Occupy protests hurting the little guy?

Published: Nov. 10, 2011 at 3:02 PM

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Owners of some small Oakland, Calif., businesses are urging Occupy protesters to pack up and go home, saying the encampments are killing business.
"The impact of the urban encampment has been very negative," said Paul Junge, public policy director for the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. "We are aware of dozens of small businesses in and around Frank Ogawa Plaza where the tents are, reporting 40 percent to 50 percent losses in the past three or four weeks, including clothing stores, coffee shops, and conference spaces."
Junge said people are avoiding demonstrators in Oakland, where protesters shut down the port and clashed with police downtown, resulting in more than 100 arrests. Store windows were broken and buildings were spray-painted with graffiti.

GALLERY: Occupy protests worldwide

"They don't like walking around down there, it makes them nervous … they are taking their business elsewhere," he said in a three-page letter to Mayor Jean Quan, The Christian Science Monitor reported.
However, State University of New York economics professor Michael Zweig Monday told the Monitor protesters at the original Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park had gone out of their way to not impact local businesses.
"They have teams to deal with sanitation and trash issues just so they won't interfere with the operation of local businesses," he said.
Occupy Oakland protesters recently began meeting with local businesses from coffee shops to restaurants to find out what they can do to help them, the newspaper said.