Ich heiße Hans

occupyhistory:

Police versus protestors in downtown Oakland, during the anti-Vietnam “Stop the Draft Week.” October 20, 1967. Photograph by Bill Crouch. Courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California.

With police brutality at Occupy Oakland all over the news, it’s worth remembering that Oakland has a rich history of protest. On October 20, 1967, four thousand people marched through the streets, blocking Army buses, clashing with police. This was the biggest demonstration against the Vietnam War up to that point. At a sit-in at the Oakland Army Induction Center, even Joan Baez got arrested. Then, as now, police violence turned the streets into a warzone. In the 1960s, however, the Oakland mayor didn’t have a Facebook page where people could leave thousands of angry comments.