http://www.politicususa.com/en/police-aiming-occupy-oakland

A new video not only provides full footage of the shooting of Scott Olsen, but also shows the police intentionally aiming at Occupy Oakland protesters.

Here is the video by Raleigh Latham:

Footage of Scott Olsen being shot by Police at Occupy Oakland from Raleigh Latham on Vimeo.

Latham added some text below his video upload, “This footage is proof that Scott Olsen was shot in the face by police without provocation during the Occupy Oakland march on Tuesday October 25. The moment leading up to the shooting, Olsen was standing completely still. He was then hit in the head with a tear gas canister, which is potentially fatal. Also, no rocks or bottles were thrown before Olsen was shot, contrary to Police statements. Two angles of footage confirm this.”

This footage is convincing evidence that the protesters were not doing anything wrong, but what is even more compelling is the footage of what appears to be the police intentionally targeting the protesters. At the 1:37 mark of the video, you can see an officer aiming at the protesters who were attempting to come to the aid of Scott Olsen. The police were treating the protesters like they were the enemy. They tried to turn the protest into a war zone.

As you can see in the video, the protesters don’t appear to be doing anything that would necessitate the degree of force used by the Oakland Police. As Sgt. Shamar Thomas said during a recent appearance on Countdown, “It’s a time and place for things, you know. It wasn’t — when the situation arises where the, you know, the crowd starts getting frantic, that’s when it’s time to say, “You know what? The crowd is getting frantic.” When people are just shouting, you know, “We are the 99 percent, come join us,” these are not, you know, chants that incite violence, you know what I mean. So, why — you know, the riot police were, you know, in form, just walking, marching up and down the street like, you know — like it was a battle going on. And I’ve been in battles. It was no battle going on.”

Just as there was no battle going on in New York when the NYPD got violent, there was no battle going on in Oakland. An independent police commission is going to be investigating the Olsen shooting, but an investigation isn’t necessary to know that the Oakland Police Department’s actions are not having their desired effect.

Fracturing the skull of Scott Olsen, and intentionally firing on protesters, didn’t intimidate or weaken the movement. If anything, the actions of the police in Oakland have made it stronger. Anyone who works in law enforcement has a difficult job that can force them to make life and death decisions in an instant. The point isn’t to demonize all police, but it is important for all Americans to stand up when power is abused.

The responsibility for what happened in Oakland starts at mayor’s office and goes down to the officers on the ground. If some overzealous individuals with power thought that they could stop this movement by literally cracking the skulls of a few people, they could not have been more wrong.

Hopefully Scott Olsen fully recovers, but no matter what, this movement will go on.