PrintJanuary 8, 2009
Rioters rampage in downtown Oakland
Protesters decrying an allegedly unjust New Year's Day police shooting of a man involved in an altercation at a BART (rapid transit) station smashed store windows, and car windows, burned several cars (including police car) and blocked streets and transit stations.
This report in the San Francisco Chronicle notes the presence of people affiliated with a revolutionary communist group:
The core group of the mob appeared to be about 40 people, several of whom were with Revolution Books, a Berkeley bookstore. A man distributed the "Revolution" newspaper - whose tagline is "voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, U.S.A." - as he shouted "This whole damn system is guilty!"
Cars and businesses owned by African-Americans were among those trashed, notes the Chron, as if these were somehow to be afforded immunity by the thugs. And thugs they were:
"I feel like the night is going great," said Nia Sykes, 24, of San Francisco, one of the demonstrators. "I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight back. It's for the murder of a black male." ....Nearby, Godhuli Bose stood near her smashed Toyota Corolla as a man walked by, repeatedly called her a misogynist slur and then added, "F- your car."
Oakland's far left mayor Ron Dellums was completely ineffective in quelling the violence:
Earlier in the evening, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums met the mob on 14th Street, urging calm and leading them on a walk to City Hall, where he gave a speech."I sense your frustration," he told the crowd. "I understand that you've lost confidence in a process because you've seen what you believe is a homicide ... But listen to me, we are a community of people. We are civilized people. We are a nation of laws."I'm asking people to disperse," the mayor said to the couple hundred people in the crowd. "Let's leave in a spirit of peace."
Revolutionaries intent on sparking violence in the cause of overthrowing "the system" are not amenable to such persuasion. The riot was amply covered on television, so perhaps at least some of the miscreants can be apprehended and punished to the full extent of the law.
