US war vet critically wounded by Police during Occupy Oakland protest

Doctors in Oakland, California, struggled on Wednesday to save the life of an Iraq war veteran became a rallying cry for the Occupy Wall Street movement after he was badly wounded in clashes between protesters and police.

Scott Olsen, 24, a former US Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired on Tuesday by police trying to prevent protesters from reclaiming a public square, protest organisers said.

Oakland police have acknowledged officers fired tear gas and so-called "bean-bag" projectiles to disperse demonstrators on Tuesday night but declined to discuss how Olsen may have been hurt except to say the matter was under investigation.

Olsen served two tours in Iraq from 2006 to 2010 with the 3rd battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and was assigned to a tactical communications unit.

News of his injury ignited a furor among supporters of the protests. Activists in Oakland and elsewhere took to Twitter and other social media urging demonstrators back into the streets en masse.

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