Occupy Wall Street protesters smashed windows in Seattle, were chased through New York streets by police on scooters, and clashed repeatedly with officers in Oakland on Tuesday in May Day demonstrations intended to revive their movement against economic injustice.
While many events involving thousands of people remained peaceful or even festive and few injuries were reported, dozens were arrested at rallies across the country, including more than 40 in New York during a series of skirmishes throughout the day.
In Oakland, police in riot gear fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse protesters who they said threw objects at officers and struck them with corrugated metal shields during a mid-afternoon altercation.
City officials said marchers had vandalized two banks, a police van and a news vehicle.
"I was standing on the outside and the cops came in, snatched two people in the crowd, beat them and put them in the paddy wagon," Occupy Oakland organizer Caitlin Manning said.
After darkness fell, throngs of protesters confronted police twice more before scattering each time when officers discharged flash-bang grenades. More than a dozen people were arrested in Oakland throughout the day and evening.
Much of the violence and vandalism was attributed to black-clad anarchist elements within the Occupy movement who have been involved in previous confrontations with police, marring what began as a peaceful anti-Wall Street protest movement.
But the clashes they helped spark last year had also served to inject new life into the protests as demonstrators took up the issue of police brutality following running clashes in Oakland and pepper spray incidents elsewhere in the country.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/us-usa-occupy-may-idUSBRE8400UV20120502
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