One of the Occupiers also threatened to stab a city council member with a pencil.
(Oakland Tribune) — Council members never made it to a vote Tuesday on a proposal to ban Occupy Oakland’s weapons of choice from protests, instead cutting the meeting short when Occupiers repeatedly disrupted a critic.
The ordinance, proposed by City Attorney Barbara Parker, would allow police to arrest people for carrying numerous items at protests, including shields, clubs, hammers, paint projectiles and fire accelerants. Occupy agitators have used those items at protests during scuffles with police or to vandalize or destroy property.
Occupy members said the law would infringe upon their rights and leave them defenseless in the face of police violence. While members of the group have disrupted previous City Council meetings, Occupiers were especially hostile during Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting.
Several members cursed at Councilmember Pat Kernighan, the committee chairwoman and sponsor of the proposed ordinance. Others hinted at violence if the measure ultimately was approved.
“I want to tell you Pat Kernighan that I could walk up to you and kill you with a F_ pencil. Are you going to outlaw pencils?” asked an Occupy member who goes only by the name Stephanie.
Occupy Oakland videographer and member Jessica Hollie warned near the end of an expletive-laden speech, “If you take away our shield, the only thing left is our second amendment right.”