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Protests over BART shooting turn violent

The roving mob expressed fury at police and frustration over society's racial injustice. Yet the demonstrators were often indiscriminate, frequently targeting the businesses and prized possessions of people of color.

They smashed a hair salon, a pharmacy and several restaurants. Police in riot gear tried to control the crowd, but some people retreated along 14th Street and bashed cars along the way.

The mob smashed the windows at Creative African Braids on 14th Street, and a woman walked out of the shop holding a baby in her arms.

"This is our business," shouted Leemu Topka, the black owner of the salon she started four years ago. "This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?"

...

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."

Sykes, who is black, had little sympathy for the owner of Creative African Braids.

"She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life," Sykes said.

**** this asshole.

But soon after, a man shouted "that's the modern day lynching" and the mob quickly continued its rampage, smashing at least seven storefronts on 17th street between Franklin and Webster streets. They also smashed eight cars, including four belonging to the City of Oakland.

Near 14th and Alice streets, Myron Bell was taking dance lessons in "step," a form of dance popular among African Americans, when he looked out the window and saw people jumping on his Lexus sedan.

Bell, 42, came out to find that almost all of the car's windows, including the front and back had been smashed and it appeared that someone had tried to set the car on fire.

"I'm for the cause," said Bell, who is black. "But I'm against the violence and destruction."

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."

Bose, a high school teacher, said: "I can't afford this."

Soo Jung Sung didn't understand why she was to blame. She wept as she looked at the shattered front windshield of her Nissan Montero.

"Emotionally, I totally understand them," she said of the upset over Grant's shooting. "But it's not nice."

Well done, all around.
 
And, fwiw, I doubt anyone can say he shot Grant intentionally.

Really? So this cop unintentionally shot a man who on the ground and on his back? You're so full of **** it's not even a joke. Please stfu and let the adults talk?
 
Source [SF Gate | Protests over BART shooting turn violent]



There are a few more personal accounts inside. A lot of it has the ring of random violence and destruction that can only be described as a riot

I think the scum rioting merely used the shooting as an excuse to riot. The second they start rioting the media should refer to them as scum,criminals, or rioters. Calling them protesters just gives a bad name to protesters in general.
 
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Source
There are a few more personal accounts inside. A lot of it has the ring of random violence and destruction that can only be described as a riot
Wait...
I thought the police were all well-trained and competent.
I mean, that's why -they- should be allowed to carry guns, while the rest of us should not...
 
Communists are sneeky bastards aren't they.

Anarchists are known for going to a protest/demonstration, causing a riot and leaving, letting the rest of the people there take the retaliation from the cops. It also causes people to focus on the violence/destruction and not the protest/demo itself, which works basically against the demonstrators.

They're slimy little cretins.

I suspect the officer went into a "cruise control" mindset where he stopped actually thinking and just responded automatically.

It's kind of difficult to say that it was an accident when he unbuttoned his holster, removed the gun from his holster (which is quote obviously not a taser, and certainly not handcuffs), took the safety off his gun (by this time he probably would've noted that he was holding a gun and not handcuffs, as handcuffs don't have a safety), aim and fire.

Either it was intentional or the guy is a ****ing moron; either way, it should be tried as murder.

Why the hell are BART cops carrying guns anyways? It's BART, it's San Francisco, ffs!
 
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"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson
 
I can pretty much guarantee you that the cops wouldn't be rioting through their neighborhoods, burning their own stores.

They don't need to. Cop killers are guaranteed a nice long trip to the pen. What do cops who shoot/beat civilians get? Warnings and/or their badges taken away? You're being naive if you think the system works the same both ways.
 
Is this an excuse for rioting?

No, it is not. In fact, the rioting was cause for the police, backed with national guard troops, to put every one of the rioters down with gas and rubber bullets. Those who resisted beyond that should be considered insurgents and taken down with real bullets.

I have absolutely no tolerance for violent forms of protest that are releases, not for a political cause, but for random and wanton angst to be expressed when any other time it would be considered uncivilized.

Every one of the monkeys should have been apprehended and charged with sedition.
 
No, it is not. In fact, the rioting was cause for the police, backed with national guard troops, to put every one of the rioters down with gas and rubber bullets. Those who resisted beyond that should be considered insurgents and taken down with real bullets.

I have absolutely no tolerance for violent forms of protest that are releases, not for a political cause, but for random and wanton angst to be expressed when any other time it would be considered uncivilized.

Every one of the monkeys should have been apprehended and charged with sedition.





Precisley... (though I have a hard time wrapping my head around the sedition angle, I have no problem with encouraging lethal force in defense of property here)
 
Precisley... (though I have a hard time wrapping my head around the sedition angle, I have no problem with encouraging lethal force in defense of property here)

Promoting violence and undermining of authority?
 
Promoting violence and undermining of authority?




hmmm. I don't see the "covert conduct". I also do not see this as a "Rebellion of the government in power", just thugs and savages looking for a new tv and lashing out at authority because thats the thing to do...


In other words, I do not give them that much credit.
 
hmmm. I don't see the "covert conduct". I also do not see this as a "Rebellion of the government in power", just thugs and savages looking for a new tv and lashing out at authority because thats the thing to do...


In other words, I do not give them that much credit.

Well then let's just call them insurgents for perpetrating mass violence against the citizens and the government authority and put a bullet in their heads.
 
Is this an excuse for rioting?

People rarely need an excuse to riot, but when people see the authority abuse their power like this they will revolt. People get immensely pissed off about this sort of thing and I don't blame them. I don't that all of the people involved in the rioting are just doing so for an excuse to steal, loot and cause destruction.
 
People rarely need an excuse to riot, but when people see the authority abuse their power like this they will revolt. People get immensely pissed off about this sort of thing and I don't blame them. I don't that all of the people involved in the rioting are just doing so for an excuse to steal, loot and cause destruction.

There is still no excuse for rioting and causing damage to your fellow citizens.
 
People rarely need an excuse to riot, but when people see the authority abuse their power like this they will revolt. People get immensely pissed off about this sort of thing and I don't blame them. I don't that all of the people involved in the rioting are just doing so for an excuse to steal, loot and cause destruction.

Sure they are.


looting a tv is not a "revolt".......
 
Sure they are.


looting a tv is not a "revolt".......

No, it isn't, but then again most of the people doing the rioting in the first place aren't doing so to get a free tv or free stereo equipment out of the deal. They are doing so because they are pissed off. The problem with riots, though, is that they usually turn into total anarchy which leads to destruction of property and people getting killed or injured. I'm not saying I condone rioting, but I'm saying that I can understand why events like this lead to it.
 
Which is why they should be suppressed swiftly and with all necessary force.

Which only incites more violence considering that the police are the very reason for the rioting in the first place. The point is that it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Does it excuse rioting? No, it doesn't. Rioting doesn't need an excuse. Is it a surprise that rioting occurred? Not at all. Considering the circumstances I'm surprised that the rioting wasn't as intense and destructive as the LA riots. When one lives in a free country this is type of behavior is expected when the authority abuse their power.
 
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YouTube - Bart Police shooting in Oakland KTVU report

I really want somebody to tell me this cop was acting in self defense when there were 3 policemen on top of the unarmed 'suspect' already.

I believe they're calling it an accident based on his reactions etc.

It "Seems" that he did not mean to pull the gun, rather he was trying to grab the tazer?

Either way, it's his fault and there was no defensive aspect of it.
 
Which only incites more violence considering that the police are the very reason for the rioting in the first place. The point is that it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Does it excuse rioting? No, it doesn't. Rioting doesn't need an excuse. Is it a surprise that rioting occurred? Not at all. Considering the circumstances I'm surprised that the rioting wasn't as intense and destructive as the LA riots. When one lives in a free country this is type of behavior is expected when the authority abuse their power.

I imagine that your desire to burn your neighbor's car is severely diminished by seeing your fellow rioters' brains splattered across the pavement. Just sayin'.
 
I imagine that your desire to burn your neighbor's car is severely diminished by seeing your fellow rioters' brains splattered across the pavement. Just sayin'.

Like I said, rioting almost always turns into complete chaos and anarchy. It comes with the territory.
 
Really? So this cop unintentionally shot a man who on the ground and on his back? You're so full of **** it's not even a joke. Please stfu and let the adults talk?

Someone would have to be insane to intentionally shoot a perp who was obviously in custody and do it in front of other officers and with hundreds of witnesses with cell phone cameras out.

You are emotionally wrought and when you calm down your sense of logic will return.
 
Anarchists are known for going to a protest/demonstration, causing a riot and leaving, letting the rest of the people there take the retaliation from the cops. It also causes people to focus on the violence/destruction and not the protest/demo itself, which works basically against the demonstrators.

They're slimy little cretins.

Sounds like you know what you are talking about.


It's kind of difficult to say that it was an accident when he unbuttoned his holster, removed the gun from his holster (which is quote obviously not a taser, and certainly not handcuffs), took the safety off his gun (by this time he probably would've noted that he was holding a gun and not handcuffs, as handcuffs don't have a safety), aim and fire.

Not so much.

Either it was intentional or the guy is a ****ing moron; either way, it should be tried as murder.

Why the hell are BART cops carrying guns anyways? It's BART, it's San Francisco, ffs!

Laughable.
 
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