Violent crackdown on Occupy protesters in Oakland, California

Police violently attacked hundreds of demonstrators in Oakland, California Tuesday evening, one day after clearing out the Occupy Oakland encampment, with several injuries reported. Protesters attempted to retake the plaza, which they have dubbed Oscar Grant Park (Ogawa Plaza).

Decked in riot gear, hundreds of police fired volleys of tear gas canisters and used bean bag guns and flash grenades against the unarmed protesters, who numbered in the thousands. Children, the elderly and disabled were among those trapped in the teargas clouds. Police helicopters patrolled overhead. (Some videos of the police violence were available. See Tear gas thrown at Occupy Oakland and Police fire tear gas at protesters)

A reporter from the East Bay Express, an independent weekly newspaper, tweeted at about 7:45 p.m local time, “Tear gas fired into crowd… People on the ground with head wounds near 15[th Street].” There were reports of at least one demonstrator critically injured.

The violent crackdown is being carried out under the orders of Democratic Party Mayor Jean Quan. Quan is one of a number of Democrats who are overseeing the escalation of repressive measures against occupy demonstrators. The actions in Oakland come a couple days after Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former White House Chief of Staff for Obama, ordered the arrest of 150 demonstrators in Chicago.

Police actions were also underway Tuesday evening in Atlanta, Georgia; Orlando, Florida; and Cleveland, Ohio. Police began surrounding the Atlanta encampment at around 11:00 p.m. local time, then moved in to clear the park and arrest those remaining.

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Pennsylvania state capital goes bankrupt

The capital city of the Keystone State has run out of money. Lawmakers in Harrisburg, PA today voted to file for municipal bankruptcy protection as the state capital of Pennsylvania has accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
The Harrisburg council narrowly voted 4-3 today to file for bankruptcy, a decision that both attorneys and residents warned against.

“This was a last resort,” Mark D. Schwartz, lawyer for the city council, tells Bloomberg. “They’re at their wits’ end.”

While some attorneys are questioning if the file adheres to legal loopholes set in place to avoid Harrisburg from going bankrupt, others say that in the meantime it will keep the city temporarily afloat while the legalities are examines. To Reuters, Schwartz says the move will try to give the city “bargaining power” with Harrisburg’s slew of creditors and the state itself. That is, of course, if the filing is approved.

"From our perspective, it is an illegal action," said Kelli Roberts, a spokeswoman for Gov. Tom Corbett, adding that the governor's general counsel was evaluating options for a response. "It won't stand."

A new state law requires cities to seek state approval to file for bankruptcy; the decision today out of Harrisburg resulted from a council board’s consensus. In a joint email issued to Bloomberg from county commissioners, they say the vote is “nothing more than a delay tactic to avoid making the tough decisions necessary to resolve the city’s debt crisis.”

With a failed garbage-to-energy conversion program putting the city $300 million in debt — piled upon tons more of financial troubles caused by a crumbling economy — a desperate measure was expected to come out of the south-central PA hub for some time. Christopher Ryon, a portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, tells The Wall Street Journal, "This has been one of the slowest moving train wrecks in my memory.”

A bankruptcy, however, was considered by many to be an improper route to revitalize the city. An ABC affiliate in the capital city said that only 13 percent of the citizens in town were in favor of a bankruptcy filing; nearly a quarter of the city, on the other hand, said that state intervention was the route to take — over half of the city said that the local government should try to come up with a compromise themselves.

Three of the seven council members voted against the bankruptcy, too. Representative Patty Kim was one of the trio, and she tells Bloomberg it didn’t make sense to vote in favor of the filing.

“We still don’t have money, and we still haven’t moved one foot forward,” says Kim.

Obama: Iran 'Will Pay a Price' for Assassination Plot

President Barack Obama said today that Iran will "pay a price" through sanctions and international pressure for its recent hostile behavior including the alleged Iran-directed plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. in Washington, D.C.

Echoing previous statements by top U.S. officials, Obama said that when dealing with Iran, "We don't take any options off the table," but did not make any mention of possible military action in favor of pushing harsh economic sanctions and corralling international condemnation of Iran's alleged action.

"We're going to continue... to mobilize the international community to make sure that Iran is further and further isolated and pays a price for this kind of behavior," Obama said.

Obama declined to comment on whether he believed the highest levels of the Iranian government were aware or involved in the alleged plot, but said even if the Iranian president or supreme leader did not have "detailed operational knowledge, there has to be accountability with respect to anybody in the Iranian government engaging in this kind of activity."

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday the DEA and FBI had disrupted a plot "conceived, sponsored and... directed from Iran" to murder the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. in or outside a crowded Washington, D.C. restaurant which potentially would have been followed up by bombings of the Saudi Arabian and Israeli embassies. The U.S. said an Iranian-American, 56-year-old Manssor Arbabsiar of Corpus Christi, Texas, was working for elements of the Iranian government -- specifically Iran's elite military unit the Quds force -- when he attempted to hire hitmen from the feared Zetas Mexican drug cartel to carry out the hit, but Arbabsiar was unwittingly speaking to a DEA informant from the start.

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US issues terror alert after Iran plot exposed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is warning Americans around the world of the potential for terrorist attacks against U.S. interests following the exposure of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States.

In a new worldwide travel alert issued late Tuesday, the department said the foiled scheme could be a sign that Iran has adopted a "more aggressive focus" on terrorist activity. It said Iranian-sponsored attacks could include strikes in the United States, where the alleged plot against the Saudi envoy was supposed to have taken place, as well as other countries.
"The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens of the potential for anti-U.S. actions following the disruption of a plot, linked to Iran, to commit a significant terrorist act in the United States," it said in the warning that expires on Jan. 11, 2012.

"The U.S. government assesses that this Iranian-backed plan to assassinate the Saudi ambassador may indicate a more aggressive focus by the Iranian government on terrorist activity against diplomats from certain countries, to include possible attacks in the United States," the alert said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Justice Department announced the indictment of two men, including an Iranian-born U.S. citizen, for conspiring with a purported Mexican drug cartel to kill the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil.

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