Repairs Under Way at Whole Foods, Other Businesses Damaged by Protesters

Bay City News—Business owners in downtown Oakland are assessing damage this morning after a mostly peaceful daylong protest by Occupy Oakland turned destructive overnight. Windows were smashed and graffiti was painted on numerous storefronts.

Some vandalism also occurred in the daytime, when some protesters damaged several downtown bank branches and others broke windows and painted the word "strike" in large white letters on the Whole Foods off of Grand Avenue.

The grocery store was shut down after the vandalism, which happened shortly before 3 p.m.

A Whole Foods spokeswoman said this morning that the store reopened for business on its normal schedule at 8 a.m., but that extra security was on hand today.

"Everything's getting cleaned up," spokeswoman Jennifer Marples said. "It's in pretty good shape, there's only one window boarded up at this point."

Some Occupy Oakland members themselves are helping clean up graffiti and replace smashed windows at downtown businesses today.

Most businesses in downtown Oakland are open today, including banks that closed their doors on Wednesday.

Copyright 2011 by Bay City News, Inc. — Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.