Paranoid city officials tightening people's ability to peacefully
assemble on public property...

Bet you righties will say he got what was coming to him because he was
in the wrong place at the wrong time. So much for free speech and the
right to assemble.

Never injured in Iraq, but during a peaceful march to demonstrate
against the powers that be, he gets clocked in the head...

Are we living in Russia?

WASHINGTON -- The Oakland Police Department fired tear gas on Occupy
Oakland demonstrators Tuesday night as they marched through downtown,
determined to reclaim the camp that officers destroyed that morning.
As the marchers zigged and zagged in search of safe ground,
authorities bombarded and barricaded the activists into a drawn-out
stalemate that resulted in further arrests.

The local police's use of force seriously injured an Occupy activist
and Iraq War veteran.

Scott Olsen, 24, remains sedated on a respirator, in stable but
critical condition at Oakland’s Highland Hospital after being hit in
the head with a police projectile.

Olsen's roommate, Keith Shannon, 24, told The Huffington Post that
Olsen is still in the emergency room.

"Right now, he's under sedation," Shannon said. "He walked into the
hospital." But soon after his arrival, Shannon said, doctors found
that there was swelling in Olsen's brain and put him under. He did not
get a chance to talk to his friend. "They are waiting for a
neurosurgeon to examine him to see if he needs surgery or not,"
Shannon said. If he doesn't need an operation, he'll be moved to the
intensive care unit.

Activists staged Tuesday night’s march through downtown Oakland in
response to a violent police raid on the Occupy Oakland encampment
earlier that day, during which officers rained tear gas and rubber
bullets on the activists in an effort to clear the camp. Police
arrested scores of protesters during the eviction.

When reached at her Wisconsin home, Sandra Olsen, Scott's mother, told
HuffPost that her son's condition was serious. "He has a head injury,"
she said. "They are still trying to figure it out with him. I don't
want to tie up the phone line. He's not in the best shape."

According to Shannon, Olsen had been attending Occupy San Francisco
events and had answered the call to join Occupy Oakland in solidarity.

"He doesn't agree with the way the banks aren't regulated, the way
they drove the economy in the ground. He wants there to be regulation
of the banks," Shannon said.

Shannon, 24, says his friend was simply one of the marchers. "He was
just hit by a projectile," said Shannon, who did not attend the march
but heard about the incident from eyewitnesses. "He wasn't near a
police officer when it happened."

Dottie Guy, a veteran of the Iraq War and a friend of Olsen, found out
about her friend's injury through Twitter and Facebook. She has
maintained an overnight vigil at the hospital. "He always had a smile
on his face," she said. "He's really into the movement."

YouTube video of the incident shows Olsen, wearing his Marine jacket
without his nametape, being carted through a cloud of tear-gas smoke
to the sounds of shrieking activists. In a close up, his forehead
appears bruised and bloodied. He stares up at his ad-hoc triage in a
daze. When asked, “What's your name?” he can’t answer. Someone
screams, "Medic!"

Shannon first got to know Olsen serving in Iraq from August 2006 to
May 2007, when the two worked tactical communications as part of the
Marines' 3rd Battalion. Olsen subsequently served a second tour. "We
both came out against the war," Shannon said.

Olsen was never injured during his two tours in Iraq.