Over the past week, Mayor Jean Quan has come under increasing pressure to forcibly clear Occupy Oakland from its City Hall encampment. Both the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune editorial pages have criticized her for not doing so. The Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Business Association have called for a forced removal of the encampment as well, arguing that it has hurt businesses. Five members of the City Council also want the encampment cleared by police. And at least one councilmember wants to a hold a vote of “no-confidence” on Quan for not ordering police to remove the camp by force.
But those calling for another police raid have yet to propose a viable plan for how to clear the camp peacefully and permanently. More police use of force will not only probably spark an angry protest and confrontation with cops, but it’s not clear how the city can keep occupiers from setting up tents again in Frank Ogawa Plaza.
