Occupy Oakland protesters come prepared to help the injured

In Oakland's central plaza Wednesday night, Tristin Campbell, 27, and Ernest Doty, 32, both residents of the city, came prepared to help the injured if police resort to tear gas and projectiles once again.

Both wore black hoodies adorned with a white cloth and red cross. Doty, who pulled Iraq veteran Scott Olsen to safety Tuesday night after he suffered head injuries from a police projectile, wore a ski mask.

Their kits: gas masks, spray bottles with water and Maalox, and Super Glue to use as stitches for busted heads or other wounds.

"We came prepared," said Doty, who said he saw only one protester throw a bottle during Tuesday's incident.

The pair hung out with friends Wednesday night as hundreds cheered behind them in an assembly. At least one small tent had been erected where others had been hauled off by the city. A sign on it read "Please donate tents & sleeping bags. (No money)."

A young man with a bandana around his neck called it "the people's tent" but said for now that his stuff was in it.

Nearby was bread and bottled water for the taking. Bruce Anthony Nixon, 48, partook. He is homeless in Stockton and found the encampment recently as he passed through Oakland. He showed prescriptions he'd received for a damaged back and neck after Tuesday morning's raid.

"One goon hit me right in the middle of the back," said Nixon, who left the camp by ambulance and is without his bicycle, tent, clothes or wallet. City officials have said the property can be reclaimed.

Everyone at the plaza awaited 10 p.m., the city's cutoff time for the demonstration. And for the police.

"We're in it for the long haul," Doty said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/10/occupy-oakland-prepared-to-help-injured.html