Violent #OccupyDC Radical Hit Police Officer In The Face With A Brick –Charge Felony Assault [Update: Glass Bottle Not Brick -Officer Released From Hospital Vision Improving]

U.S. Park Police push Occupy DC demonstrators across a sidewalk at McPherson Square in Washington Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Gee, if Occupy DC becomes any more “peaceful ” and “non-violent” someone is liable to get seriously injured.

(WTOP) –WASHINGTON – Tensions escalated Saturday night as police in riot gear clashed with protesters at McPherson Square.

Eight people were arrested.

Officials said it was relatively peaceful but got tense late in the day when an officer was hit in the face with a brick as police pushed protesters out of the last section of the park. The officer was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The man suspected of striking him is being charged with a felony assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon. He is in police custody.
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Police insisted they were not evicting the protesters. Those whose tents conformed to regulations were allowed to stay, and protesters can stay 24 hours a day as long as they don’t camp there with blankets or other bedding. Police threatened to seize tents that broke the rules and arrest the owners.

Officials used barricades to cordon off sections of McPherson Square, a park under federal jurisdiction near the White House, and checked tents for mattresses and sleeping bags and sifted through piles of garbage and other belongings. Some wore yellow biohazard suits to guard against diseases identified at the site in recent weeks. Officials also have raised concerns about a rat infestation.

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Update:

(WaPo) –The Occupy D.C. protester authorities said threw a glass bottle that injured the eye of a Park Police officer was released to a halfway house after a Thursday morning hearing.

Jeremiah D. DeSousa, 29, of Charlotte, was charged with assault after allegedly throwing the bottle during Saturday’s raid on the Occupy encampment in McPherson Square.

A hearing in his case was scheduled for Feb. 28, court officials said.

The officer is out of the hospital and his vision is improving, according to Sgt. David Schlosser, a Park Police spokesman. He has not returned to work, Schlosser said Thursday.