Iraq vet in critical condition after Oakland protest

Something that is a certainty, based on past experience, is that there are some people being paid to make the protests look bad. (Of course, any large group will have people who are not rational.)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/26/BAE71LMH3C.DTL

San Francisco Chronicle
Will Kane,Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 26, 2011


tags: Occupy Wall Street, OWS
[...]

Several hours after the raid on the camp, a march turned into a protracted street confrontation between protesters and police officers, who set off tear gas and used shotguns to fire projectiles designed to inflict pain but not kill.

Police said they had to protect themselves from protesters who hurled rocks, bottles and paint, and ignored orders to disperse.

Authorities have not released information on injuries from the clash. However, officials at Highland Hospital in Oakland said today that one protester, Scott Olsen of Daly City, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, was in critical condition.

The antiwar group said Olsen, a systems network administrator, suffered a skull fracture when he was hit by a "blunt object." Olsen joined the U.S. Marines in 2006, served two tours in Iraq, and was discharged in 2010, the group said.

Video footage widely distributed on the Internet shows a protester - identified by the antiwar group as Olsen - being carried away by others with a wound to his face. While he lay wounded, the footage appears to show an officer tossing a tear gas canister toward people trying to help him.

[...]

..