Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf Institutes Ban On Nighttime Street Protests
The rally began just before sunset in Frank Ogawa Plaza where about 200–300 people had gathered. After several speeches and recitations of poetry, the protesters announced their intention to march to the Oakland Police Administration Building seven blocks away. Demonstrators had not yet stepped off the sidewalk and into the intersection of 14th Street and Broadway when OPD addressed the crowd through an amplified sound system, stating that the march was “unpermitted.” As demonstrators walked into the street, police immediately ordered them back onto the sidewalk, citing California Vehicle Code Section 2800, which makes it an arrestable offense to not comply with orders of a police officer.
“The fact is we were threatened with arrest for marching,” said Cat Brooks, one of the facilitators of the protest. “This was a Black women’s and children’s rally saying to the police, please stop killing us, and our woman mayor organized the harshest response we’ve seen yet.”
“There clearly is a shift in tactics by the police,” said attorney Anne Weills, who was in last night’s march.
In an interview today, Mayor Libby Schaaf acknowledged that she ordered the prohibition on nighttime street marches in Oakland. However, she argued that it was a not new city law, but rather a reinterpretation of an existing one.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2015/05/22/oakland-mayor-libby-schaaf-institutes-curfew-on-nighttime-street-protest
May 2012
OPD’s current crowd control policy, Lye explained, is pursuant to a court settlement reached in the 2003 Port of Oakland incident, during which Oakland police fired wooden dowels and shotgun-propelled bean bags into a crowd of protestors, injuring 58 people. For that reason, she said, “OPD does not have unilateral authority to change that [policy].” Instead, she said, “they are required to consult with a monitor” before announcing any revisions.
Because OPD’s existing crowd control guidelines were part of a federal court order and are still legally binding, the department doesn’t “have the power to make any changes in that unilaterally,” added Rachel Lederman, an NLG attorney.
Even more confusing to some is the fact that a few weeks ago, Lederman said, OPD “inexplicably” posted the Peace Officer Standards and Training - or POST - crowd control guidelines on its website, even though it already lists the existing guidelines as its official policy. Furthermore, the city’s press release made additional mention of new guidelines, stating that OPD is “revising its crowd management policy to be consistent with upcoming POST-recommended crowd management policies.”
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/05/was-oakland-pds-proposed-crowd-control-policy-illegal.php
May 2015
"Black People Had War Declared on Them By Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf."
On Thursday, May 21st, 2015, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, in response to window breaking during protests the evening of May 1st, promulgated, secretly, new edicts prohibiting night time street protests. These were enforced by Oakland Police that night when Black Lives Matter protesters attempted to take to the streets after a #SayHerName rally remembering Black women killed by police terror.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/5/24/1387348/--Black-People-Had-War-Declared-on-Them-By-Oakland-Mayor-Libby-Schaaf
May 2015
Oakland protesters defy mayor by marching at night without permit
Protesters marched through Oakland streets after sunset Saturday in defiance of Mayor Libby Schaaf’s policy of shutting down unlawful assemblies at night in her effort to protect businesses from protest-related violence and vandalism.
The protest was organized in response to an incident Thursday night in which police forced about 200 demonstrators off the street and onto the sidewalk because they did not have a permit to shut down city streets. The groups Onyx Organizing Committee and the Anti Police-Terror Project complied but called the city’s action unconstitutional, and planned Saturday night’s march to challenge what they called a new policy.
On Friday, Schaaf spokeswoman Erica Derryck released a statement saying the city hasn’t approved any new laws or policies regarding marches, but is using existing laws and policies to make sure protests remain peaceful. She said routing the march onto the sidewalk is a way to “ensure that freedom of expression is not compromised by unlawful activity and demonstrators, bystanders, motorists and property are kept safe.”
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-protesters-to-challenge-Libby-Schaaf-in-6283517.php
June 2015
Oakland officials, lawyers can’t resolve city’s controversial crowd control policy
“She’s (Schaaf) writing checks she expect my police officers to cash,” said Donelan, whose union is currently negotiating a new contract. “This administration will persecute Oakland police for their own failed policy.”
“This is a failed policy, failed leadership and ultimately the people who will suffer are the citizens of Oakland,” Donelan said. “Are we putting murderers behind bars? I’m not sure what we’re achieving.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/2015/06/03/oakland-officials-lawyers-cant-resolve-citys-controversial-crowd-control-policy/
CBS San Francisco reports that police cited a new policy by the city's mayor to force protesters from the street to the sidewalk after Oakland experienced several violent demonstrations in the past year. Oakland has hosted rallies in the streets for years, but the mayor said the new policy is needed to combat damage to property and violence.
Rachel Lederman, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild who helped Oakland craft its crowd-control policies, said the new tactics appear to violate the guidelines.
"It doesn't make any sense because saying that marches have to be on the sidewalk has absolutely no relationship to impending property damage that might occur," Lederman said. "Obviously that would happen on a sidewalk, not a street."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-oakland-police-policy-sparks-protests-arrests/
Oakland Police Under a Cloud for Violent Occupy Crackdown
October 2011
Questions are swirling as to whether Oakland police used excessive force and violated the department's own crowd-control policy. The OPD denies that Oakland officers used flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets against the crowd, despite allegations to the contrary. (OPD spokespeople suggested that other law enforcement agencies may have used them.) Interim police chief Howard Jordan has admitted to the use of tear gas and bean bags, saying his officers used them as a defense against bottles, rocks, and paint thrown by angry protesters.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/10/opd-crowd-control-policy-force
http://www.mercurynews.com/2015/05/26/legal-or-not-oaklands-new-protest-policy-hurting-relations-with-activists/
