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from the we-don't-need-any-more-jackboots-thank-you dept.
Oakland Wiki reports
Urban Shield is a war game police training simulation that takes place annually in Oakland. Additionally, there is a vendor show that [markets] firearms and other kinds of emergency things at the Marriott downtown. The 8th annual Urban Shield was held Sept 4-8, 2014.
[...]
There was a protest rally against Urban Shield at the downtown Oakland Marriott Hotel, on Sept 5, 2014 from 4-6pm. The protest was organized by the "Coalition Against Urban Shield", a group of about 26 anti-war and anti-poverty organizations. Hundreds of people came to the protest and at one point protestors blocked off Broadway between 9th and 11th. Additionally, there was a barbecue and march to the rally in the afternoon, 12:30pm-4:30pm.
The event and protest received a large amount of coverage, probably because the anti-police-militarization protests in Ferguson after the police shooting death of Michael Brown were just a few weeks prior.
On Fri. Sept. 5th, Mayor Jean Quan said in a press conference that Urban Shield wouldn't be returning to Oakland for a third year:
"The City Administrators Office will be asking our agent not to pursue another contract", Quan said in a statement issued Friday evening. [CBS]
A protest with barbecue. These folks know something about effective organizing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 11 2014, @02:10AM
Holy hell, it took more digging than I expected to figure out which Oakland they were talking about. I am not far from one, it has an 'Oakland Marriott', and a Broadway. I went to the wiki and page after page simply called it Oakland, as if it is the only one in all of existence. Eventually, searching for the mayor's name resolved the issue.
The arrogance of Californian culture continually astonishes. It is a shame that the rest of the world think all Americans are like them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 11 2014, @02:44AM
> The arrogance of Californian culture continually astonishes
Get over yourself. There are very few cities with unique names, yet unless otherwise specified everyone knows which one people are talking about.
Paris, Texas
London, Ohio (and Kentucky and Ontario)
Athens, Georgia (and Tennessee and Ohio)
etc...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 11 2014, @03:44AM
You are proving the point about arrogance. Oakland is not as well known as Paris, London, or Athens.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 11 2014, @07:01AM
> Oakland is not as well known as Paris, London, or Athens.
Plenty famous enough though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 11 2014, @03:53PM
I'd never heard of it prior to this article. (Eurolentil here.)
(Score: 1) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday September 11 2014, @08:20AM
Dallas, Victoria...not to be confused for Dallas, USA
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by TK on Thursday September 11 2014, @02:13PM
You forgot about Ontario, California. Really confusing when you refer to it as Ontario, CA. As if that would clear up the confusion.
The fleas have smaller fleas, upon their backs to bite them, and those fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 11 2014, @02:51AM
Haha cant take this seriously and I live on the east coast. You go though with your rust belt pride. Deep inside you knew which oakland...tell the truth
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 11 2014, @03:42AM
When there is political unrest and militant police actions in the news, do you think of Detroit or the Bay?