Downtown Oakland is in an economic turnaround with new businesses popping up. But with events like the May Day strike Occupiers are scaring away business owners, residents, workers, and visitors. I saw and smelled yesterdays protest as I walked to the BART station on my way to school. The air was filled with pot smoke and I had no idea who the people were in the protest beyond angry anarchists.
In advance of the protest promotional fliers were glued to newly painted street art along my street and people had spray painted May Day along freshly painted buildings. After the protest yesterday, seemingly insane people were screaming obscenities along the streets as parents with small children waited at a bus stop hoping to get away from downtown Oakland. I witnessed workers boarding up windows of small and large businesses. As I walked past these scenes and approached my neighborhood there were drunk protestors, five hours after the protest, partying on a sidewalk with a DJ playing ear-splintering music. Helicopters were over the streets all day and late into the night.
Is this what Occupy wants for Oakland?
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