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Volume 152, Issue 6
TheGuardsman.com
November 2 - November 16, 2011, 2011
OCCUPY OAKLAND UNDER FIRE
IMAGES BY CLARIVEL FONG / THE GUARDSMAN
TOP: 150 Oakland Police, Sheriffs and Solano County Officers stare across a barricade of over 400 protesters at Frank Ogawa Plaza. BELOW, FROM LEFT To RiGHT: A spent grenade on Broadway St. A protester pukes after police threw tear gas into the crowd. Protesters shield their mouths from tear gas and flee the area. Injured protesters show their scars.
Live Twitter coverage from the #OccupyOakland raid
by Joe Fitzgerald, Becca Hoekstra, and Clarivel Fong
Oakland Police raid on Occupy Oakland , where some 400 armed police fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash grenades into a peaceful protest of some 500 “Occupiers.” They had been booted from their campground at Frank Ogawa Plaza earlier that day, and were marching to retake the plaza. As mainstream media outlets fled the scene, The Guardsman covered the event live via Twitter under the handle @sfbreakingnews. Our coverage was the third most followed twitter handle in the Bay Area for that night, and was retweeted as far as China, New Zealand and the UK. Follow The Guardsman at Twitter.com/SFbreakingnews.
Newspapers possible new target in herb war Sara Bloomberg CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Print publications advertising medical marijuana may be the next target of a recent federal crackdown on the substance, causing outrage among advocates and patients who hoped that Obama would decriminalize what they consider to be medicine. Federal prosecutors in California announced earlier this month that landlords and property owners who rent buildings or land where dispensaries sell or cultivators grow marijuana would be singled out. U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy,
ON THE INSIDE
who oversees areas in Southern California, announced her intentions to go after advertisements as well. So far, Northern California media outlets seem unaffected. Executive Editor Tim Redmond of the San Francisco Bay Guardian, said the weekly newspaper has not received any notices on the issue. A large chunk of the Guardian’s advertising are medical marijuana ads. Redmond said he’s more concerned for the dispensaries. “They support the local economy. They create jobs. It’s going to destroy a growing industry in California”, Redmond said, at a time when the economy desper-
PREPARE FOR DIA DE LOS MUERTOS: Sugar skulls and altars Pages 6, 7, 8
ately needs growth. “If you shut down the dispensaries, they can’t advertise anyways.” The federal prosecutors claim their decision to crack down on the thriving industry is related to concerns about profiteering and not to any directives from the Department of Justice. However, the announcement came only a few months after the Department of Justice distributed a memo reversing what many considered to be the Obama Administration’s previous movement towards decriminalization. In 2009 the “Ogden Memo” encouraged federal prosecutors to direct resources away from HERB WAR Page 3
Inside the Occupations: SF and Oakland’s 99 percent By Alex Schmaus CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Occupy San Francisco expanded from the sidewalk in front of the Federal Reserve to nearby Justin Herman Plaza with more than 300 protesters now living at both camps, despite increased threats of police raids. The camp, with over 50 tents, was built in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which opposes the extreme inequalities of the wealthy and the middle class. Similar occupations
are popping up in hundreds of cities and towns across the country. “Occupy San Francisco is a community,,” explained Sara Husain, 23, who moved to the Bay Area from Ohio six weeks ago. Husain wasn’t surprised by the Occupy movement, “people are fed up, people are losing their homes, everyone feels it, a lot of people are working, but they still find ways to support us.” A nurse at UCSF medical center and union member Randy Howell supports the Occupy
VIDEO - OCCUPY OAKLAND: Visit our YouTube for live video of the police crackdown on the #OccupyOakland march. youtube.com/user/TheGuardsmanOnline
OCCUPY SF Page 3