Awesome photos of anti-police-brutality shields in Oakland tonight

[flamingdem]

Halloween versions?



http://yfrog.com/h6h4hnnj
&xsize=640&ysize=640

via:
http://twitter.com/OccupyOakland

[Laluchacontinua]

1. I saw those skeletons in the live feed & thought they were on the officers' shields!

[flamingdem]

3. Check out the yfrog link to see the backs of the shields

The picture wouldn't post ... I thought it was people wearing black pointy hoods until I found the picture of the front of the shields.. very scary .. thought that it was some kind of Halloween thing to mess with the police!

[Laluchacontinua]

7. I see what you mean, looks like black-hooded klan on first glance.

I actually thought the police had put the skeletons on *their* shields to intimidate, though it seemed weird.

[vets74]

38. KKK, no. But this is a horrible mistake. Not understanding nonviolence....

[flamingdem]

54. I certainly see your point. However, Oakland has a rough history

with the police and they are stressing this point. In general I agree that nonviolence is the way but VISUALS are very important for media purposes. In this case I believe it softens some of the anger to see a symbolic attempt to protect oneself. I'm sure the cops were not afraid of these shields!

[Tx4obama]

2. K&R :) n/t

[Marazinia]

26. Takes guts to stand to front like that

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. I saw those. Very smart. Thanks for the clear pic!

[Tx4obama]

5. I am hoping that a whole bunch of protesters will get some gas masks like the ones below

Here: http://mcenter.slideshowpro.com/albums/027/935/album-276800/cache/102911_occupyDenver27.sJPG_900_540_0_95_1_50_50.sJPG?1319952319

and here:
http://mcenter.slideshowpro.com/albums/027/935/album-276800/cache/102911_occupyDenver15.sJPG_900_540_0_95_1_50_50.sJPG?1319952319


p.s. And here is a link to the full Occupy Denver slideshow: http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2011/10/occupy-denver-protesters-face-off-with-police-saturday-october-29-2011/23403/

There are some very good photos there.

[flamingdem]

8. The cop looks somewhat bemused - btw a "link to wild in the streets" in Oakland from copter

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/livenow?id=8411167#&cmp=twi-kgo-livevideo-8411167

The media was saying it's wild in the streets - you can't call this peaceful!

[flamingdem]

9. I must say Denver is fierce!

From the videos I saw last week and this they are amazing and strong... plus BRRRR

[Xicano]

13. One of the photos from your links

http://mcenter.slideshowpro.com/albums/027/935/album-276800/cache/102911_occupyDenver3.sJPG_900_540_0_95_1_50_50.sJPG

[SteveM]

18. For many years Korean protestors were so well protected...

with helmets, shields, gas masks, etc., that you had to look closely to differentiate them from the riot police.

[ddeclue]

67. yep... seen that.

[DeSwiss]

6. K&R!!! n/t

[dana_b]

10. there was no GA tonight - it was a meeting about police brutality

and the victims, or more so their families, got up on stage to talk about their experiences with police brutality. Oscar Grant's family and friends were there and more. That was the whole point in Oakland tonight. There was a very feisty GA the other night in regards to privilege, race, discrimination and social status. I think tonight grew organically out of that.

[flamingdem]

11. I'm glad they are spotlighting this, it is an issue for all the cities nt

[defendandprotect]

27. kr

[Tx4obama]

12. Body armor and head protection ....

I wish a bunch of the protesters would show up with things such as:

Football helmets to protect their heads from tear gas canisters other projectiles
Metal garbage can lids to use as shields against flying rubber bullets, bean bags, etc

Any other ideas out there?

[bvar22]

14. Several sections of newspaper under the shirt around the upper body...

...can be moderately effective reducing & spreading the impact from rubber bullets.

Goggles or Safety Glasses are a must.

Wet bandannas carried in a Zip Loc baggie can help recover from Pepper Spray & Tear Gas.

There was a well known "cookbook" that contained all that kind of stuff from the 60s,
but I won't even type that name it into my browser these days.

[Chan790]

40. phonebooks work better.

But the idea is the same...just tear them in half at the binding, shingle them into a belted armor a bit bigger around than your torso, a bit shorter in height than your torso at your armpits. Run one layer of duct tape around the outside of the belt, overlay with a pair of wide suspenders so you can hang your armor from your shoulders, then run the rest of the roll around the armor to bind the suspenders into place.

Won't stop a large bullet but it'll stop small rounds, beanbags, rubber bullets, truncheon-strikes and weigh less than 25# with limited restriction to mobility. Combine with an athletic cup and football pants with pads in, a decent pair of combat boots and any sort of helmet with face-shield (I like hockey but there are other options). A decent set of head-to-toe armor with limited-gapping easily available from legal supplies for under $200.

[Muskypundit]

55. You can even get gas masks

From surplus stores. Or online.

[Downtown Hound]

15. Ideas:

Boxing body protector. I used to box when I was a teen and am currently studying something called Crazy Monkey Defense (a type of self-defense boxing adapted for the street and MMA). We use these when we spar. You'd probably still feel the impact of a rubber bullet or other less lethal projectile, but I guarantee you you'd feel a A LOT LESS than you would if you weren't wearing it. They run anywhere from $50 to $100.



Boxing groin protection. It goes without saying that the one place you DON'T want to get by a rubbet bullet is in the groin. These can run anywhere from $20 to $100.



Tactical paintball helmet. Less lethal munitions are a lot like paintballs anyways, so why not go to the source for some protection? They run for about $80 and up.



Paintball neck protector. Runs anywhere from $30 to over $100.



That covers the most vital areas of the body. If you get hit in the legs, chest, or back, it would still hurt, but you'd probably be fine. This stuff may not make you look pretty, but I'd love to see the looks on the piggies' faces if they suddenly had to face down an army of protesters wearing all this gear. Fire away piggies! You ain't gonna do shit!

[vets74]

37. Simply... wrong. This is provocateur bullshit. Not MLK. Not Gandhi.

[Chan790]

41. The very sort of non-violence activist who advocates against self-protection ...

is the sort we're best off without.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

47. Activist Darwinianism. n/t

[Downtown Hound]

60. All of those items are defensive

None of them can be used to attack. You have a problem with people not wanting to get shot in the eye with a rubber bullet, do you?

[Downtown Hound]

61. And I am no provocateur

Just someone that has witnessed one too many incidents of police brutality to know that people like you are totally full of shit.

[rgbecker]

17. How about 5 gallon buckets of water?

Throw the gas canisters in them rather than throwing them back at police.

Would than extinguish them? Cause them to explode? Anyone know? Anyone ever try it?

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Remember Me]

44. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT PROVOCATEURS WOULD RECOMMEND

After infiltrating, they would be the ones suggesting violence, or RETURNING violence, or illegal activity. As Vet74 has been pointing out in this thread: this is NOT "non-violent protest" and will NOT yield the desired results. In fact, it could easily result in the very least hoped for results.

Anyone who recommends or chooses to escalate, as suggested here, should be surrounded, isolated, identified, and stopped.

DO NOT LET THE PROVOCATEURS gain any footholds.

[vets74]

56. I received my training in Alachua, Florida, before a SCLC march to Gainesville.

Nothing has changed.

Dr. King started that march with us. He is with us now.

These black-clad masked young men are not in that tradition. If these men are a product of a right wing survivalist/paramilitary group, it would not surprise me one bit.

Does anyone see black or brown skin in that group ??? If not, then odds on they're Republicans.

The provocateurs at Air & Space Museum went to the front of the march so they could incited a riot at the museum. Then the large one came back the next day and tried to get October 2011 people to adopt tactics similar to what you are seeing here in Oakland. He was removed. They didn't fall for it.

Getting Occupy Oakland cleaned up -- that's today's #1 problem.

[Chef Eric]

21. Swim goggles to protect against pepper spray. nt

[zentrum]

49. In the 1960's

My mother routinely faced clubs and gas in anti-war demonstrations. She told me the women wore big rollers in their hair under their helmets, and carried vinegar or sailne water soaked rags in plastic bags to put over their eyes in case gassed.

They also carried flowers to give out to the National Guard.....

[flvegan]

52. Find a quality Shoei on Craigslist.

Full face w/shield. Balaclava underneath. I'd not enter the mix without one.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

16. Battle For The Planet of The Apes

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. very smart - they seem to be really thinking

[Aerows]

20. My favorite picture from the protests

[Marazinia]

22. Lord Vader

Lord Vader, shouldn't your storm troopers be wearing white to contrast your scary body armor and oh so stylish flowing cape?

Other than that, these guys do look more and more to me like Imperial troopers. Or maybe these guys:

[defendandprotect]

28. Almost looks like Mel Brooks "Space Balls" ridiculouslness -- !!!

Sadly delivering violence to the people who are simply engaged in their right

to peaceful protest!

That seems to be a threat to elites/corporations who push the police to more and

more violence in response. What's wrong with this picture?!!!

[sabrina 1]

34. I wonder who got the contract for those boots!

Shouldn't we get an accounting for the money spent on these things since the people pay the bill after all?

Might be good to start looking into who is profiting from the militarization of our police forces.

[Marazinia]

45. I don't know about the boots

I might be tempted to wear those. I always did prefer them to sneakers and girly shoes.

[66 dmhlt]

35. Like the sign. Hope you don't mind a screen capture

[blackspade]

23. It would be awesome if they were made of 1/2 in plywood!

[kestrel91316]

30. Well, but then the cops would call them deadly weapons. Best to

stick with cardboard. You can build up layers so it's pretty substantial.

[blackspade]

43. Hell, the cops will call anything 'deadly weapons'.

Layers of cardboard could give a lethal paper cut!

[kentauros]

58. There's a type of sign material called

"Foam Core Board" that is quite stiff and very lightweight. Other than its thickness, it could be easily mistaken for your average protest sign. However, it might be strong enough to deflect a teargas cannister.

[senseandsensibility]

24. Looks like Raiders colors/indignia at first glance

Should go over well in the Bay Area.

[defendandprotect]

29. kr

[FunMe]

31. EVERY OWS protest should have those!

Love them!

[vets74]

39. No OWS protest, ever, should have this.

[Remember Me]

42. Why don't you explain why? If you want to make a point, MAKE it

by explaining your rationale.

[senseandsensibility]

46. He did below.

See his previous post.

[L0oniX]

32. K & R ...fight the power.

[valerief]

33. Excellent. nt

[vets74]

36. WEARING MASKS is not standard protocol for Occupy marches and protests.

We have succeeded in getting the procedure reduced to "sports crowd" level for the New York marches. This is similar to a Knicks game or hoops at NYU intramurals.

Saturday at Zuccotti/Liberty Park the police presence was down to normal WTC-area walk arounds.

Nothing unusual.

The shields look tough. That's good for online propaganda, but here's the real questions:

What would Martin Luther King have done ?

What would Mahatma Gandhi have done ?

Think the Salt March looked like this ?

Any of MLK's marches ? Not what I was in.

[tcaudilllg]

48. No mask, sure... how about a bike helmet?

[backscatter712]

63. I'd recommend shop goggles.

Given the cop's propensity to fire "non-lethal" high-speed projectiles at people's faces.

I saw one kid with a welt right between his eyes from a pepperball. He's incredibly fortunate not to have lost an eye or worse.

[Abonides]

50. re:masks

The masks might be a necessity that didn't exist in the 60's. Now days there are so many cameras everywhere that the protesters might be worried about being id'd and tracked. That or there's the whole gas issue.

[flamingdem]

53. Considering the Portland police dept is posting pictures of the arrested

a mask does seem to be a good idea for those who do to want to be identified

It can be mild, large glasses and hat might help

[inna]

51. awesome

[vets74]

57. "Protesters Wear Out Their Welcome Nationwide" is the meme. Shield design by Karl Rove ???

And who are these mask, helmet, or balaclava wearing white young thugs ??? Wanting to do battle with a police force ?

Our objective, btw, has been to change treatment of protest groups over to a low-threat category appropriate to sports crowds.

This effort has succeeded wonderfully in New York City. Police presence at Zuccotti/Liberty Park is back down to near normal for this WTC Ground Zero area. The marches are entirely different now from the confrontational battles that occurred earlier.

Beware provocateurs. Rove and his crew have studied the early fascists from the 1919-1930s period and they will copy those tactics again and again.

In fact, beware any group of young white males. Anyone carrying anything that could be taken as a weapon is to be considered a right wing agent provocateur. That's how they have been doing business including Washington and Boston.

[flamingdem]

59. Do you think the NY OWS group communicates with Occupy Oakland?

Maybe they need to get the memo about this. As I wrote to you above perhaps it's due to the history of police brutality in Oakland. I saw the shields as a more artistic / media statement vs. a threatening statement, btw.

[vets74]

65. Here's an interesting read for you.

Managing Major Events

www.policeforum.org/dotAsset/1491727.pdf

Status similar to sports crowds -- perfect.

Where cops see you like a Knicks crowd... that's best on both sides.

[AsahinaKimi]

62. I like the shields but...since its Oakland

I would have chosen this one..


:hide:

[flamingdem]

64. That's for next week!

:)

[ddeclue]

66. Awesome I was saying they need to do this and get body armor and gas masks and helmets

Force the cops hands so they can't do this kind of crap anymore!

Good for them!