More than 1,000 people gathered in Oakland Thursday night for a vigil for Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran who fractured his skull on Tuesday during an Occupy Oakland protest. Olsen was hit in the head by a police projectile. Hospital officials have upgraded Olsen’s condition from critical to fair. He has woken up and is now awaiting brain surgery to relieve pressure on his brain from swelling. Olsen served two duties for the U.S. Marines in Iraq. Longtime California labor activist Clarence Thomas spoke at a rally on Thursday in Oakland.

Clarence Thomas: “Rubber bullets, gas, sticks, shock and awe, cannot stop this movement. There is an Iraqi (sic) veteran fighting for his life in Highland Hospital. He survived two tours in Iraq. But when he came home, he was shot at the war at home. There’s two wars going on: there’s a war abroad and a war at home.”

Clarence Thomas of the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union also praised calls by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly for a general strike in Oakland next week.