Wall Street protesters hold vigils for injured vet

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By TERRY COLLINS and JASON DEAREN

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Anti-Wall Street demonstrators held vigils for an Iraq War veteran seriously injured during a protest clash with police in California as some Occupy encampments came under growing pressure from authorities to abandon sites in parks and plazas.

A crowd of at least 1,000 people, many holding candles, gathered Thursday night in Oakland in honor of 24-year-old Scott Olsen, who is hospitalized with a fractured skull.

In Nashville, police cracked down overnight on an Occupy protest camp near the Capitol under a new policy setting a curfew for the complex. They moved in a little after 3 a.m. and arrested about 30, who were later released after a judge wouldn't sign the warrants. About 20 protesters who stayed on a nearby sidewalk were not arrested and were still there later in the morning as state troopers stood guard at the steps to the Capitol.

Protesters also held a vigil for Olsen in Las Vegas, which drew a handful of police officers. Afterward, protesters invited them back for a potluck dinner.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20111028/D9QLA89O0.html

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Fernando and Elsa Leal hold protest signs during a candlelight vigil for Scott Olsen on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, in Oakland, Calif. As Occupy Oakland protesters rallied Tuesday night, a projectile apparently fired by police struck the Iraq veteran leaving him in critical condition with a fractured skull. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)