Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's response to the rampaging protesters who destroyed dozens of new cars for sale and broke merchants' windows this month has been to prohibit marching in the street after dark without a permit. Since Thursday night, when the crackdown began, crowds of 100 to 200 people have gathered on three nights to defy the new approach and protest in the streets, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Protesters have asked for no permits, which take 30 days to issue and cost $300 each.
Police used tear gas to try to enforce what is arguably the most hard-lined interpretation of the city's crowd-control regulations since 2011, when police clashed with hundreds of Occupy protesters while former Mayor Jean Quan was out of town. “We used to essentially provide police escorts for them,” Schaaf said of past nighttime protests. Now, she said, police officers are assessing the size and demeanor of each crowd, attempting to contain traffic and prevent chaos, while facilitating activism that seems “reasonable.” Outraged protesters have turned Schaaf and Oakland police into their targets, calling the mayor's crackdown a curfew. A small but vocal subset has begun referring to its protest movement in profanity-laced, antipolice terms.