DAVID SHUSTER: We start with breaking news tonight from Occupy Oakland. A second U.S. veteran has been injured in a clash with Oakland police. According to the British newspaper The Guardian and Iraq Veterans Against the War, Kayvan Sabehgi suffered a lacerated spleen in a police beating Wednesday, and he's in intensive care awaiting surgery.
The fifth story on the "Countdown" -- Wednesday's violence between police, Occupy protesters and a small group of black-clad rioters who smashed windows and lit fires has claimed another victim, along with five protesters and several police officers already reported hurt. The violence broke out after a disused building near the protesters camp at Frank Ogawa Plaza was occupied and a barrier near the building set on fire. Police responded with tear gas, flash-bang grenades and non-lethal rounds. Some protesters fought back with rocks and bottles. Oakland police made more than 100 arrests.
Iraq and Afghan war veteran Kayvan Sabehgi told The Guardian he was walking away from the fighting when he ran into the Oakland PD. "They lined up in front of me. I was talking to one of them saying, 'Why are you doing this?' When one moved forward and hit me in the arms and legs and back with his baton. Then, three or four cops tackled me and arrested me." Sabehgi says he then spent three hours handcuffed in a police van before he was driven to jail. By that point, the veteran says he was in "unbelievable pain." "My stomach was really hurting, it got worse to the point where I couldn't stand up. I was on my hands and knees and crawled over to the cell door to call for help."
A nurse was brought to his cell and offered Sabehgi a suppository, which he rejected. Police then let Sabehgi crawl to another toilet that was too clogged to use. "I was vomiting and had diarrhea. I just laid there in pain for hours." Sabehgi was charged with resisting arrest and remaining present at the place of a riot. His bail was posted Thursday afternoon, but he was in too much pain to leave his cell.
An ambulance was called and took Sabehgi to Oakland's Highland Hospital, some 18 hours after the beating took place. He will have company there. Highland is the same hospital where Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen was taken after he suffered a fractured skull from a police tear-gas canister in and Occupy Oakland protest on October the 25th.
We're going to talk with Guardian reporter Adam Gabbatt, who's broke the Kayvan Sabehgi story, and Dottie Guy, with Iraq Veterans Against the War, in a moment.
In Oakland, a cleanup followed Wednesday's violence, while police Chief Howard Jordan tried defending his officers to boos at a city council meeting nearby.
(Excerpt from video clip) HOWARD JORDAN: My officers showed great restraint --
(Excerpt from video clip) LARRY REID: Excuse me! Excuse me! If we're going to disagree, let us disagree respectful, and so if you -- if you -- if you want us to listen to you, then listen to the police chief.
SHUSTER: Before that meeting ended, Oakland City Council reportedly indicated they wanted to close the Occupy camp. They have yet to vote on any proposals to shut it down.
Elsewhere in the Occupy Movement, Occupy Tucson agreed to close its camp peacefully and move to another location, after police told them they needed the first location for a series of weekend events.
And here in New York, Occupy Wall Street protesters have a busy weekend planned. They'll be taking part in an End to End for 99 Percent march with Harlem residents, in a rally to urge depositors to move their accounts from too-big-to-fail banks to smaller credit unions that serve communities first.
Adam Gabbatt is the correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian, who broke the story of the police attack on Iraq veteran Kayvan Sabehgi. Adam, first of all terrific reporting, thanks for joining us. You just got back from Oakland. When is Sabehgi's surgery scheduled? What do doctors hope to do?
ADAM GABBATT: Well, doctors hope to either insert a blood clot or a patch into his artery -- he told me this morning -- to stop internal bleeding from his ruptured spleen. He described himself as having a stomach full of blood when we spoke. And he was awaiting surgery, he wasn't sure when it was going to happen. Could be tonight, could be tomorrow.
SHUSTER: He's a war veteran from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Did you detect his mood? What was he sort of -- other than the physical pain -- the emotional pain?
GABBATT: He was pretty outraged. He couldn't really believe how police had been so violent towards him. He had a lot of anger towards police -- although it must be said, when I spoke to him he was clearly in a lot of pain. It was quite distressing to speak to him, actually, you could here the fatigue in his voice. As you mentioned in your intro, he's been 18 hours before he taken to hospital, a lot of it led on a cell floor. And he was very angry with police. He said "I can't believe they've done this," and that's a feeling that Scott Olsen and friends of his seemed to have repeated. How a veteran can go to war -- go to Iran, go to Afghanistan -- come back safely, thankfully, then suffer these injuries at the hands of the police here in the U.S.A.?
SHUSTER: You covered the general strike for The Guardian on Wednesday, you were in the area where the violence broke out -- that was Wednesday night. Describe the scene, describe how it happened.
GABBATT: Protesters occupied a building, a disused building. That was taken -- I'm not sure how they gained access, but they did -- and that was taken peacefully. And people were gathered in there. This was about 11:00 PM, it was a carnival atmosphere on the street. Music was playing, Rihanna at one point seemed to be a particular favorite. And there was really quite a carnival mood. But then, every so often, waves swept through the crowd suggesting police were on there way.
And at this, I walked down to Telegraph -- walked east from this building ,which was on 16th Street -- and there protesters had created a barrier to prevent anyone from getting into the street. And I was hanging around there and it became clear that police were massing -- at least 200 police officers further up the street, to the north. And at this, some protesters set fire to the barricade, creating quite, sort of -- iconic scenes, but also scary scenes. And I think a lot of people got quite intimidated, just by the fires present. That, obviously -- police felt they had to act quicker, the fire was getting quite out of control. So they pushed down, and people wouldn't move back as quickly as they wanted, and that was when they fired tear gas, and what I believe to be flash-bang grenades. And I also spoke to one girl who'd been hit by rubber bullets.
SHUSTER: It sounds like Sabehgi was hit with the police batons by perhaps several -- did you see any of that sort of activities, with the police actually chasing people or people who were walking away from the scene?
GABBATT: I couldn't see them chasing people. I did see people struck with batons. The police massed in a line across Broadway, which was just to the north of where this was occurring, and they moved forward in a line using their batons like this, in a kind of "trunching" motion. And anyone who was in the way was struck by the baton, and some of the people didn't want to give ground and were hit by batons. I saw one person fall to the ground and be carried away. And the police would then get to a certain point, stop, then move forward again. It took them about two, sort of, movements like that to reclaim the area -- the immediate area.
But from when I understand, Kayvan was injured further west from this -- he was walking away from all the violence. He wasn't stood trying to prevent police from approaching. He said he was walking away along 14th Street and he came into an isolated group of officers when he suffered his injuries.
SHUSTER: Which is so ironic, because you were just pointing out a minute ago that -- off the air -- that the Iraq and Afghan War veterans have been, sort of, at the front of the march. In part, because they're a little bit braver and reassuring others that this is going to be peaceful.
GABBATT: That's correct. On the march to the Port of Oakland, which was a very well-organized protest -- there must have been thousands, up to ten thousand, different estimates -- estimate different numbers. But we walked from the plaza -- the Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, where the Occupy Oakland protest is based -- and headed down to the Port, which is, in total -- it was about three-mile walk. And Iraq veterans were at the front of the march, and they were very keen to keep the Iraq veterans in front of the, sort of, bulk of protesters and they were used as a sort of -- you're right, as a kind of calming presence. And also -- these people have been to war, they're not intimidated, but also, they won't overreact and, you know, throw things, stuff like that.
SHUSTER: What's been the mood since the reporting has gotten out that yet another Iraq War veteran is facing serious injuries at the hands of U.S. police?
GABBATT: I think it's disbelief. I think the first time, people were very emotional to hear of Scott Olsen's injuries, especially when video came out which show -- had shown him not being a provocateur in any way. He was -- just stood calmly. Since then, I've spoken to people from the Iraq Veterans Against the War movement who -- the feeling has been very much "I can't believe they've done it again." Kayvan, from speaking to him -- and I believe him, he sounds a very honest guy, he sounded very hurt -- but he said he was peaceful, he had his arms folded, he was trying to talk to officers, when someone came forward and started hitting him with a baton. It's just disbelief, and also disgust, that this could have happened again.
GABBATT: Adam Gabbatt, correspondent for The British Guardian, the newspaper. Some incredible reporting, and thanks so much for coming on "Countdown" tonight and sharing with us tonight. We appreciate it.
GABBATT: Thank you very much.
Watch 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' live each weeknight at 8/7c on Current TV.
Find Current on your TV.
