Retailers hoping to cash in opened stores for post-Thanksgiving shopping last night. Thousands of shoppers lined up to take advantage of bargains. A few of them were hurt for their efforts. At a Walmart store in Los Angeles a customer pepper sprayed other shoppers as they competed for X boxes on sale. Twenty people were treated for exposure to the spray. In the parking lot of a San Leandro Walmart, a shopper was shot early this morning when two armed robbers demanded the family's purchases and they refused.
Today some Occupy Wall Street protesters around the country are planning flash mobs and other events to urge people not to shop at national chains on Black Friday. Here are some of the other protests planned for today.
* Emeryville: Native American activists and their supporters will assemble outside the Bay Street Mall beginning at noon to urge people not to shop there. They say the mall desecrates an ancient burial ground.
*In Beverly Hills at 11 a.m., animal rights activists will mark Fur Free Friday urging people not to buy fur coats or other fur clothing. The protest along Rodeo Drive begins at the park at Santa Monica Blvd.
* In San Francisco at noon, a Fur Free Friday protest at Union Square.
* In San Jose from 10 a.m. to noon a Fur Free Friday protest on Santana Row at the corner of Stevens Creek Blvd.