105 Arrested after Oakland Riot

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

(01-08) 11:43 PST OAKLAND -- Police arrested 105 people during a violent protest in downtown Oakland over a fatal BART officer-involved shooting, authorities said today.The suspects were arrested Wednesday night for a variety of offenses, including vandalism, arson, inciting a riot, gun possession and assault on a police officer, said Officer Jeff Thomason, Oakland police spokesman.


Those arrested on misdemeanors have been cited and released, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, Alameda County sheriff's spokesman. Suspects arrested for felony cases are being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin pending court appearances Friday, at which time formal charges might be lodged by prosecutors.


The majority of the protesters were arrested at about 10:40 p.m Wednesday when they were corralled by police near the Paramount Theatre at 20th Street and Broadway. There was no immediate breakdown from authorities on how many of those arrested were booked on suspicion of felonies.
...
Some owners slept at their businesses, fearful that their stores would be looted before they could make repairs.


Leemu Tokpa and several family members spent the night at Creative African Braids on 14th Street, the hair salon she started four years ago. Protesters smashed the store windows Wednesday night.


"I'm angry because I'm very disappointed," Tokpa said this morning. "I understand they were mad because a black man was killed, but I'm a black lady. If they're protesting, why would they come into the store?"


Asked what she would tell the protesters, she said, "They're stupid."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/08/BA2A155RRO.DTL

See, this is why rioting makes no sense to me.

"The Police just shot a guy they already had on the ground and in custody!"

"Yeah so....Let's destroy our own neighborhood! That'll show the ruling class who's boss!"

Ms Tokpa is right. Stupid is the best word.

[redguard2009]

You know what? You're absolutely right. The world would be a much better place if nobody ever rioted or commited any act of rebellious violence, towards people or property. Of particular travesty was that time when those filthy anarchist rioters and ne'er-do-wells smashed up those crates of tea and dumped it in the Boston harbour.

Nope, rioting never did anybody any good.

[danyboy27]

You know what? You're absolutely right. The world would be a much better place if nobody ever rioted or commited any act of rebellious violence, towards people or property. Of particular travesty was that time when those filthy anarchist rioters and ne'er-do-wells smashed up those crates of tea and dumped it in the Boston harbour.

Nope, rioting never did anybody any good.

those crates of tea where the property of the brittish empire, those small store are the bread and butter of small buisness owner who rather being their own boss rather than being exploited by big corporation.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

Just wanted to add, this was a very fucked up shooting, (not that I believe rioting is the answer), anyway, here's the vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDkgQ_zZoak

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

You know what? You're absolutely right. The world would be a much better place if nobody ever rioted or commited any act of rebellious violence, towards people or property. Of particular travesty was that time when those filthy anarchist rioters and ne'er-do-wells smashed up those crates of tea and dumped it in the Boston harbour.

Nope, rioting never did anybody any good.

There's a difference between rebelling against an occupying force and burning you own neighborhood down.

It's like how people try to call the Rodney King riots an uprising. It wasn't; if it was they would have gone to Beverly Hills before they began smashing shit.

[redguard2009]

@spetznaz, first of all I didn't understand anything you said, but I think you missed the entire point of my post.


There's a difference between rebelling against an occupying force and burning you own neighborhood down.

Yeah, but don't expect every act of primal frustrated anger to be some romantic, constructive Guy Fawkes type deal. I too find it very unfortunate and silly when people get caught up in actions like these and end up targetting the wrong people. It happens all the time; while protesting against the police, people will smash windows and loot stores and while I'm sure they think they're fighting "the man" somehow or another, it's generally counter-productive.

But I wouldn't go so far as making a blanket statement that rioting "makes no sense" and is "stupid". Rioting and direct action and uprisal is not stupid and makes perfect sense; don't confuse the misguided actions of a minority with the entire purpose of an event like this (how many people didn't burn down that old lady's shop?).

[synthesis]

You can't hold a riot to the same standards as a revolution.

Riots are spontaneous expressions of anger that may not seem entirely logical in retrospect. They are generally not planned extensively beforehand.

A riot is merely a manifestation of the "I-need-to-fuck-something-up" mentality, expressed in social terms.

Revolutions, on the other hand, generally coalesce around one ideology or another, which present some sort of alternative to the current system.

Riots and revolutions are entirely different creatures.

[Jae iLL]

There's a difference between rebelling against an occupying force and burning you own neighborhood down.

It's like how people try to call the Rodney King riots an uprising. It wasn't; if it was they would have gone to Beverly Hills before they began smashing shit.

The LA riots was a different scenario tho, a lot of people put it all on Rodney King, but you can't forget the racial tensions that run deep in LA. You can't forget the events that led up to the riots, between Koreans and blacks. I'm Korean, and I got family in K-town, and the blacks came to K-town and there were shootouts, we had old men on the rooftops and gangsters on the streets fighting with the blacks in more of a racial riot as opposed to a riot because of Rodney King.

As far as what went down in the Town this past week, I'm kind of split on how I feel about it. Of course the people that had their cars smashed and burnt, and the businesses don't deserve it because what did they do to O Grant? Nothing, however, it definitely did bring the situation to the media's attention. It's kind of like when a little kid is ignored for so long, eventually he's gonna act a fool and get his parents attention. Same thing in the prisons, they burn their own mattresses and tear their cells up, but it's to get attention. These riots were committed by some of the youth of the East Bay that didn't know how to focus their anger, but it did get your attention, and many other folks' attention.

[StalinFanboy]

those crates of tea where the property of the brittish empire, those small store are the bread and butter of small buisness owner who rather being their own boss rather than being exploited by big corporation.
They are still proponents of capitalism, and the state, and therefore are enemies.

[Killfacer]

They are still proponents of capitalism, and the state, and therefore are enemies.

So now people who run small businesses are "our enemies". Christ.

[danyboy27]

They are still proponents of capitalism, and the state, and therefore are enemies.


is it doing anything constructive?

no

[Ele'ill]

"The Police just shot a guy they already had on the ground and in custody!"

"Yeah so....Let's destroy our own neighborhood! That'll show the ruling class who's boss!"

Ms Tokpa is right. Stupid is the best word.

I disagree. I find the idea of people destroying the only thing they have (and it isn't much) to be liberating.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

I disagree. I find the idea of people destroying the only thing they have (and it isn't much) to be liberating.How?

That's the anti-materialist philosophy ; )