U.S. MARINES AROUND THE WORLD ANGRY WITH OAKLAND POLICE FOR CRITICALLY INJURING BROTHER MARINE October 28, 2011
U.S. Marine expressing anger at Oakland Police. CLICK TO ENLARGE
(NATIONAL) -- Marines around the world are expressing anger and outrage by the injuries inflicted by Oakland, California Police on fellow Marine Scott Olsen at Tuesday's Occupy Oakland protests.
Olsen, 24, who survived two tours in Iraq was critically injured and placed in a medically induced coma after being hit in the head by a police projectile while he was peacefully protesting. He suffered a fractured skull..
The picture at above right was taken from a Reddit thread called "How I feel, as a United States Marine, about what occurred in Oakland."
The thread pulled in over 600 comments in five hours after it first went up.
According to Keith Shannon, a friend who served with Olsen during his time in Iraq, Olsen was hit in the head with a police fired tear gas or smoke canister.
Oakland police admit they used tear gas and baton rounds, but have denied the use of flash bang grenades. Protesters, however, say they saw police use them.
Olsen is from Wisconsin. He served tours of Iraq in 2006 and 2007, and is active in both Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War.
In the video below you’ll see him collapsing and injured. The video also appears to show that after protesters ran to the aid of Olsen who was down on the ground and non-responsive, an Oakland Police officer deliberately lobbed a flash grenade into the crowd.
The original footage, shot by Ali Winston, is here
An example of some of the comments people are posting on the Internet about Olsen being injured is below by justice22:
“Every American should be demanding accountability from the OPD. As a Marine, this poor kid risks his life for the American people everyday and he is thrown on death's door by those sworn to protect us. There can be no excuse for the actions of the OPD. We should be calling for mass resignations from the Mayor to the police commissioner.
If these atrocities continue against innocent protesters, the President may have to call in the National Guard to protect them just as Roosevelt and Murphy had to do for striking workers. America, home of the free. No wonder the world has lost all respect for our country.”
