The #OCCUPY movement is entering an ominous new phase.

Police attacked #OCCUPYOAKLAND on Tuesday with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash grenades. Scott Olsen, a two time Iraq war veteran, was critically wounded in the assault. Graphic pictures of an unconscious Olsen, his skull fractured, being carried by fellow protestors to safety have reverberated from Zuccotti to Cairo and escalated the movement. On Wednesday, three thousand protestors reclaimed the square, reestablished their encampment and held a general assembly that called for a General Strike.

"We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%... All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them."

There are signs of occupations in other cities taking up Oakland's call. A tantalizing possibility hangs in the air: Could a wildcat general strike spread across the nation? Are we witnessing the first clues of how a soft regime change might begin in America?

occupywallstreet.org / occupytogether.org / Twitter / Facebook