Occupy Oakland Update: Police Fire Tear Gas Again Tuesday Night

It looks like Oakland will began and ended Tuesday to the scent of tear gas.

After being evicted from Frank Ogawa Plaza Tuesday morning, Occupy Oakland protestors staged a late afternoon rally that began peacefully but later turned into a confrontation with police over the same ground that had been fought over in the morning.

At around 7:45 p.m., police fired tear gas to disperse several hundred demonstrators who had refused to acknowledge an order to disband what officials had determined was an unlawful assembly. At least one reporter, from Bay City News Service, was caught in the tear gassing.

A live blog on InsideBayArea.com followed the afternoon protest and the police response in reverse chronological order.

See video footage from ABC-TV here. In addition, a brief clip on YouTube captures the chaos — and foul language — of the tear-gassing.

A stream of Tweets coded #occupyoakland provide updates. The phrase "Oakland PD" was one of the most seached-for terms in the Twitterverse Tuesday night.

It was a raucous day from the start.

Oakland police in riot gear, with help from other units, moved in about 5 a.m. to break up an encampment that had refused city orders to vacate the plaza

At least 75 protesters were arrested, mostly for misdemeanor offenses, including unlawful assembly and lodging.

At a press conference early Tuesday, interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said the morning operation had gone well.

"There were no injuries to the public or my officers," he said.

Jordan defended the use of tear gas and nonlethal beanbag weapons Tuesday morning. He said these tactics would be investigated by the department's internal affairs unit.

Apparently, internal affairs will have more to investigate after Tuesday night.

A blog posting about the morning action, written from the protestors' viewpoint, said:

"People were naming the different area police departments that were represented, like trainspotters . . . a column of San Leandro police in full riot gear march(ed) along the sidewalk."

A live video of Tuesday morning's eviction was taken by an activist and posted on the ThinkProgress.org website.

It is an hour long and of poor quality due to bad lighting and the lack of a tripod, but it provides a sense of the scene.

Click this link for a

(Bay City News contributed to this report.)