Oakland Cops Face Inquiry Over Wounded Iraq Vet

Occupy protests around the country hold candlelight vigils for Scott Olsen

(NEWSER) - Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq war veteran who suffered a fractured skull when police raided the Occupy Oakland camp on Tuesday, is awake and lucid, and doctors have upgraded his condition from critical to fair, Reuters reports. “He’s able to understand what’s going on,” a hospital spokesman said. “He’s able to write and hear, but has a little difficulty with his speech.” Olsen’s parents flew in from Wisconsin yesterday to see him, and he “responded with a very large smile” when he saw them. More»

Ranger suffers lacerated spleen during Wednesday's violence

(NEWSER) - Another Iraq war veteran has been injured in clashes between police and protesters in Oakland, reports the Guardian . One week after Scott Olsen suffered a fractured skull , Kayvan Sabeghi was hospitalized with a lacerated spleen, which he says was caused by being hit with police batons Wednesday night. "There was a group of police in front of me. They told me to move, but I was like: 'Move to where?' There was nowhere to move," said Sabeghi, a former Army Ranger who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. More»

Occupy participant apparently got hit with a 'police projectile'

(NEWSER) - The police raid on Occupy Oakland last night has left one of the demonstrators in serious condition with a fractured skull. He is identified as two-time Iraq war vet Scott Olsen, 24, and he apparently got hit with some kind of police projectile, maybe a tear gas canister, reports the Oakland Tribune . Several people were hit by projectiles and overcome with gas, including members of the media, notes the Tribune. More»

'Occupy' marches in Oakland, Seattle elsewhere get physical

(AP) - Activists across the US joined the worldwide May Day protests today, with Occupy Wall Street members in several cities leading demonstrations and in some cases clashing with police. Some examples:

• In Oakland, police fired tear gas and "flash-bang" grenades to disperse the crowds, sending protesters fleeing a downtown intersection where they were demonstrating. Officers took four people into custody.

20 arrested in eviction

(NEWSER) - Occupy London's campsite outside historic St. Paul's Cathedral has been evacuated by police, marking an end to one of the longest-running sites in the Occupy movement. Some 20 people were arrested in the dismantling of the encampment, which began in October, the AP reports. A former church leader who resigned in support of Occupiers called it "a sad day for the church." Members of the London movement had challenged an eviction order, but the effort was struck down by Britain's High Court. More»