On the night of March 21, members of Occupy Oakland set up camp in Mosswood Park, which they renamed Huey P. Newton Park (#HPNP) after the co-founder of the Black Panthers.  The camp was formed in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street’s re-encampment, raided by NYPD.

The night before, autonomous activists met at Snow Park to plan a reoccupation. They announced their plans on Twitter. Before they arrived, police were already on the scene. Clearly the police had read the tweets or were tipped off by someone who had.

The next night, occupiers kept mum about the true location of the new camp, making jokes on Twitter about possible campsites.

At 7am, after the encampment’s successful first night, the location was announced publicly. The camp lasted the night in the cover of the sunken amphitheater, surrounded by redwoods.

With eight tents and 20 occupiers, they moved onto the wet grass and invited everyone to join them.

At about 9am, the camp received a visit from Sgt. A. Steinberger, who quizzed occupiers on their intentions. He told them they could have four tents up, no more. Occupiers questioned what law placed a limit on tents. (The policeman also requested an #OO pin for his souvenir box.)

Later police would return in larger numbers to inform the activists that all their tents must come down, as the discussion with Sgt. A. Steinberger led them to believe occupiers had “intent to stay overnight” (California Penal Code Section 647 (e) Lodging).

Occupiers took down the tents, and the police stuck around for a while. Two police officers told activists that they had to put away their food. When questioned, they explained that the food could not be left out on a flattened tent. Occupiers heckled the police, and the food remained.

Eventually the police left, presumably to return at 10pm when the park closes to the public.

Soon the media joined Occupy Oakland, then left them to enjoy their day discussing the broken system, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.