Occupy Wall Street: Fresh Allegations of Police Brutality Emerge Following Oakland Clashes
Following a slew of recent clashes, where a reported 65 protesters were arrested, fresh allegations of police brutality have emerged from the Oakland branch of the Occupy movement. Reuters

Following new clashes early Thursday morning, where a reported 65 protesters were arrested, fresh allegations of police brutality have emerged from the Oakland, Calif., branch of the Occupy movement.

Police and protesters reportedly again clashed in Oakland, after participants in the protest lit a "large" bonfire in the middle of a downtown street.

According to reports from Associated Press, immediately after the bonfire was lit "dozens" of police in riot gear descended on the protesters, issuing warnings to move. Following the initial warning, police were reported as opening fire on the protesters, firing several rounds of rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bang grenades into the crowd.

After the initial clash, protesters were reported to have returned to the scene, some wearing gas masks, others with cloths wrapped around their faces to protect them from the remaining gas.

Protesters at the scene were quick to assert that damage done to the surrounding area was made by police, not protesters. One piece of graffiti on a store with broken windows read, "This act of vandalism was not authorized by the general assembly. Peaceful protest."

The latest clash between Oakland protesters and police came just after the movement was reported as successfully shutting down one of U.S.' "busiest shipping ports" Wednesday evening.

The new clash and allegations of police police brutality are the latest in an ongoing series of incidents between protesters and law enforcement.

Prior to the most recent incident, reports of police violence against Oakland protesters emerged earlier in October on the movement's Web site,occupyoakland.org. The Web site published statements charging the U.S. police of numerous acts of brutality during a recent raid designed to evict protesters from their encampment.

More recently the police treatment of the Oakland protesters caught the attention of the Anonymous collective, which has supported the Occupy protests from the star. The hacker collective launched a revenge cyber attack on the Oakland police in October to "punish" the department for its alleged acts of brutality.