Iraq veteran injured by projectile during Oakland protests. Update!

Courtesy of the Associate Press:

A clash between Oakland police and Occupy Wall Street protesters left an Iraq War veteran in critical condition Wednesday after a projectile struck him in a conflict that came as tensions intensified over demonstrators' encampments across the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Scott Olsen, 24, suffered a fractured skull Tuesday in a march with other protesters toward City Hall, said Dottie Guy, of the Iraq Veterans Against the War. The demonstrators had been making an attempt to re-establish a presence in the area of a disbanded protesters' camp when they were met by officers in riot gear. 

Several small skirmishes broke out and officers cleared the area by firing tear gas after police say protesters threw rocks and bottles at them. It's not known exactly what type of object struck Olsen in the chaos, though Guy's group alleges it was a police projectile. 

Multiple attempts to reach Oakland police by The Associated Press were unsuccessful ahead of a late afternoon news conference. Guy said also it wasn't immediately clear whether Olsen, a network administrator in Daly City, would need surgery. "It's still too early to tell," Guy said. "We're hoping for the best."

As it turns out the Mayor clearly realized that this incident did not make her police force look very good and offered an olive branch of sorts:

Oakland city officials are allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters back into a plaza where police raided and cleared a 15-day-old encampment, but they will continue prohibiting people from spending the night there. 

Mayor Jean Quan announced the conciliatory gesture Wednesday, hours after officers in riot gear clashed with and fired tear gas at demonstrators who had tried to re-establish the disbanded camp. 

Quan says Oakland supports the protesters' goals, but had to act when a small number of them threw rocks, paint and bottles at the police.

If indeed the Oakland police support the protests, you would think they would exercise extreme caution before firing projectiles of ANY kind into a crowd of Americans protesting on their behalf.

I worry that as these protests continue we will see more incidents like this which might cause some gatherings to escalate into actual riots, which of course would totally feed right into the meme that is currently being created by the Right Wing to dismiss these protestors as radicals determined to wreak havoc, cause vandalism, and physically attack authority figures.

I still want them to continue, and totally support the protestors, but I think perhaps they might start to prepare to kick troublemakers out and police their groups in order to keep local law enforcement from finding an excuse to do it THEIR way.

If there are any protestors reading here I would like to know if efforts have been made to anticipate and deal with participants who might get caught up in the moment and do something to invite aggression from the police. Because I have to say that it is starting to look like the police in a number of these cities are losing their patience, and might start looking for ANY reason to disperse these crowds while using increasing aggressive measures to achieve that result.

Update: I just received this video in my e-mail.  I think it provides some very disturbing perspective on what happened to Iraq vet Scott Olsen in Oakland today. It is hard to argue that this incident was accidental if the police are caught on film throwing tear gas canisters directly AT the protestors.