Olsen's condition has been upgraded after an incident that has prompted calls for Oakland mayor's resignation.
Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran who suffered serious head injuries after being hit by a projectile fired by police during the Occupy Oakland protests, will require surgery to alleviate brain swelling. Doctors at Highland Hospital in Oakland have upgraded Olsen's condition from critical to fair, a source told the Guardian, though they would not discuss whether the 24-year-old had regained consciousness.
Olsen's roommate Keith Shannon, who served with him in Iraq, said Olsen would be undergoing surgery "within a day or two".
Shannon, who lives with Olsen in Daly City, a city south of San Francisco, said it was "great" that Olsen had been upgraded to "fair" status, but said concerns remained as to whether he may have suffered brain damage.
He was sedated upon arrival at the hospital on Tuesday night. His parents flew in from Wisconsin and were at his bedside on Thursday.
Oakland's police chief Howard Jordan has promised a vigorous investigation into the incident which has provoked heavy criticism across the US, sparking solidarity marches in dozens of Occupy camps in the country.
The Oakland protesters were back in force on Wednesday night, 24 hours after they were supposed to be gone for good, demanding the resignation of the city's mayor.
This time the police did nothing except circle around the demonstrators and discourage them from jumping on to an overhead freeway. More than 1000 protesters kept marching through the city streets until long after midnight, shouting an occasional "shame on you" at motorcycle cops and taking care to pick up their own litter. They even picked up pieces of a fence they had earlier pulled down and stacked them in neat piles around Frank Ogawa Plaza, in front of City Hall.
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