Though May Day is over, there was a lot of cleaning up to do on Oakland city streets Wednesday morning, as well as a police presence to prevent Occupy protesters from regrouping.
Oakland Public Works crews were busy cleaning up the streets and removing graffiti and broken glass from downtown, following an entire day of marches, and a little vandalism, by activists protesting banks and other symbols of "corporate greed."
Thousands of people came to Oakland, and other cities throughout the country, on May 1. But despite the crowds, police said 39 people were arrested in what they said was a mostly peaceful protest.
"Once again, a small group intent on confronting the police and doing damage to public buildings and businesses in our city disrupted yesterday’s largely peaceful events,” said Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. “I want to thank the Oakland police and the other law enforcement agencies for their evolving strategies which balance the rights of peaceful demonstrators with enforcement against violence. I also want to thank our Fire Department and Public Works crews who put out small fires last night and swiftly cleaned up the city overnight so that commuters could get to work and Oakland could get back to business as quickly as possible.”
Arrest breakdown by crime:
- 27 arrested for willfully delaying or obstructing law enforcement officers in the performance of their duties
- 7 arrested for failing to disperse an area declared an unlawful assembly
- 1 arrested for robbery, battery, and resisting or delaying arrest
- 1 arrested for battery and resisting or delaying arrest
- 1 arrested for violation of a restraining order
- 1 for vandalism
- 1 for vandalism and possession of an incendiary device
There were reports of scattered vandalism including a trash can fire at 19th Street and Broadway. Windows were broken at the Wells Fargo Bank at 20th and Franklin streets, and another car was set on on fire in Frank Ogawa Plaza.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Bank of America at the Kaiser Center and at Bank of the West at 2127 Broadway suffered from vandalism. Also an Oakland police van had its windows broken, and a KPIX news van had its tires punctured, police said.
