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Quan Warns Occupy Oakland Protesters To Keep The Peace

OAKLAND (KCBS) - Oakland Mayor Jean Quan is warning Occupy Oakland protesters at the city hall encampment to find a way to keep the peace and follow the rules, or else the camp will need to be dismantled again.

Quan said the Occupy organizers also need to keep vandals and anarchists from hijacking their movement as it is costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and costing the movement its support.

"They have to take some responsibility, they have to step up. If they can't abide by not camping at night and can't control the violence, they need to work to see that they move the camp to a place that would be less disruptive," she said.

Quan said the city can't afford of repeat of the vandalism seen earlier this week.

KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:

Quan described Occupy Oakland as a no-win situation and costing the city $700,000 in extra police costs last week alone.  According to Quan, that's money that should go towards storm damage - things like fallen trees, and violent crime, too.

"Other city services," she warned, "won't get done."

"There's about, what, 650 (officers) and they're doing duty of 12-hour shifts," explained KCBS and Chronicle Insider Phil Matier. "All vacations have been canceled. Days off have been canceled. And you're doing a 12-hour shift and you're either in downtown Occupy or the streets of East Oakland or somewhere else."

According to Matier's research, last Saturday well over 150 calls for service went unanswered. That, Matier reasoned, shows how stretched the police department is.

"They're stretched on a good day," he pointed out.

KCBS and Chronicle Insider Phil Matier:

"And it's information like that plus, you know, concerns about how much the city is spending to maintain this camp, it's starting to bubble up at City Hall," continued Matier.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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