Well - and I'm not implying that you necessarily subscribe to that justification, but - I don't buy it.
There are already laws that grant the authority to shut down a town if it erupts into riots. I can't cite those laws, but I bet the LA riots or Hurricane Katrina would be cases where they were used.
In this specific case, the action in Oakland, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh, on Thursday and then repeated almost exactly on Friday night, unfolded because Schenley Plaza officially closes at 11PM. I have never heard of this before and the Plaza certainly sees use after 11PM on a weekend night.
The protestors/students/bystanders were forced away from Schenley Plaza at 11PM, pushed deeper on campus. This led to an actual assault on the dorms of the University of Pittsburgh. See this note about a poor, brave student arrested for trying to keep her comrades safe from the police. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=847898
yeah but those are full out riots. Here we have a few people acting out and the police using that as a justification to crack down on peaceful bystanders.
