Oakland Police terrorize babies

I saw just looking for details of what event they were talking about. The traffic report just said that BART recently reopened after a riot that affected not one but two bart stations, yet they didn't give any details at all. They should have some tools for dealing with a crowd. Let's say that hypothetically some people were assaulting others, like when my housemate was at a parade in New York city and he saw a group of men going around violently surrounding and groping women - it would still be completely wrong for tear gas cannisters to go off in the subway. That would hurt bystanders and let the original people get away.

call that state-terrorism.

The police call it, crowd-control, or sometimes, controlling the situation.

Mind you, their ideas of the purpose and meaning of "control" are radically different from yours.

according to reports from sources in Oakland:
some of the following is scattered, so please send more updates.

There were youth in the Wendys by the park at 4:30. they were told to disperse, with supposdely no provocation, by the police. upon not doing so, the police created a column and began firing teargas.

The Fruit of Islam, the militant wing of the Nation of Islam, took a buffer position, taking the heat of the teargas but preventing 'unrest.' The BART by then was shuttered.

Police took control of downtown. Small groups of local residents were slowly milling about, mostly leaving the downtown area, until police were the only ones left. Police density in the city center consistently increased.

There was a possibility that the police would pan out into residential neighborhoods, but this has yet to be substantiated. The Fruit of Islam has since dispersed for the evening, and the likelihood of resistance to the police repression was slim to nil.

Festival Erupts In Violence, Two BART Stations Closed

POSTED: 9:39 pm PDT May 31, 2004
UPDATED: 10:14 pm PDT May 31, 2004

OAKLAND -- An unruly crowd, attending a Caribbean festival in Oakland, erupted in numerous fist fights and looted a popiular downtown restaurant Monday night until it was dispersed by riot-cladded police officers firing tear gas.

One person was arrested and another received minor injuries before the violence was halted.

A the height of the melee, officials were forced to close down the two BART stops for more than an hour. Few details were immediately known, but the dispatcher said the disturbance began around 6 p.m. and forced the closure of the 12th Street station. The crowd then moved toward the 19th Street station, forcing officials to close that station.

However, the situation had calmed enough by at 7:30 p.m. to reopen both stations.
Copyright 2004 by KTVU.com and Bay City News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Riot Police Called Out During Oakland Festival
June 1 (AP) — Riot police were called out last night after a festival in downtown Oakland got out of hand.
Local Headlines

Peterson Murder Trial Gets Underway
Mountain View Soldier Killed In Iraq
Man Arrested After Monday's Fatal Hit And Run
Boy Rescued After Near-Drowning At Party
Highway 80 Accident Results In Major Injuries
Riot Police Called Out During Oakland Festival
Holiday Crackdown Nets 351 Arrests So Far
Californians Mark A Solemn Memorial Day

More local news...


The "Carijama" festival went smoothly most of the day until crowds of young people started arriving just as the festival was closing around at 5:00.

Oakland police say when the growing crowd failed to disperse, about 100 officers in riot gear swept through the crowd.

Two BART stations at 12th and 19th were closed for about two hours.

Later in the night, shots were fired into the air. One man was arrested for gun possession.

Copyright 2004 by Associated Press. Republication, re-transmission or reuse without the express written consent of the Associated Press. Is prohibited.



Posted on Tue, Jun. 01, 2004





Oakland police break up festival gone wild

By Gary Richards

Mercury News


A downtown Oakland street festival turned into a small riot Monday night, resulting in the ransacking of a fast-food restaurant and the closing of two BART stations.

Oakland police said a group began throwing rocks after the Memorial Day event ended about 6 p.m., breaking the windows of a Wendy's restaurant and leading police to fire tear gas to break up the crowd. One injury was reported.

Police closed the BART stations at 12th and 19th streets in Oakland to quell the crowd. The stations reopened a short time later, and no train delays were reported.

Latecomers mar Oakland's Carijama festival

By Susan McDonough

and Heather MacDonaldSTAFF WRITERS
OAKLAND -- Violence and confusion again erupted this year in the wake of Carijama, despite a new location for the troubled Caribbean festival and an intense police presence.

The event -- celebrating Oakland's ties to Brazil, Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean -- went smoothly from 10 a.m. when celebrants staged their annual parade until the festival's end at 5 p.m., police said. Crowds of young people -- many just arriving in downtown Oakland as the event was closing -- thronged into the streets surrounding Frank H. Ogawa Plaza and refused to obey police orders to disperse.

Chaos ensued and about 100 police officers in full riot gear swept through downtown to control the crowds who loitered en masse around the BART station entrances at12th and 19th streets.

The stations were closed for as long as two hours at the request of the Oakland Police Department, although BART police reported no problems inside.



As of 8 p.m., one man had been arrested for gun possession after being chased down by officers along Telegraph Avenue. Shots were fired into the air at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, and also at 16th Street and Broadway, authorities said. It was not clear who did the shooting.

A "sideshow" involving drivers showing off in their cars also erupted, and officers spent most of the evening stopping cars, ticketing the drivers and towing vehicles away.

More than an hour after the festival's official end, Frank H. Ogawa Plaza remained jammed with young people milling around, most between 11 and 20, many talking on cell phones and wearing white crisp T-shirts and dangling earrings.

Based on initial reports, it appeared the only major damage was a broken plate glass window at the Wendy's restaurant at 15h Street and Broadway, where officers fired a tear gas canister to disperse a crowd that refused to obey police orders.

There were conflicting reports about how the window was broken. Police said a woman was pushed through the window, while other witnesses said the tear gas canister broke the glass. Several people eating inside were gassed, and minutes later became ill outside on the sidewalk, witnesses said.

Police Chief Richard L. Word said his officers acted in accordance with the department's new crowd control policy, which prohibits police from firing projectiles at crowds that refuse to follow orders.

"There are just too many youngsters and young adults who can't control themselves," an angry Word said.

City leaders had hoped a new venue for the troubled festival would avoid a repeat of the violence that erupted following the event last year.

Councilmember Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland), who helped organizers with the festival's move from Mosswood Park in North Oakland to City Hall Plaza, declined comment Monday evening. Festival organizers could not be reached for comment.

Carijama had been held at Mosswood for 15 years before neighbors lobbied city officials either to cancel the festival or move it after two women were slashed last year and bottle-throwing crowds took over surrounding streets after the festival had ended. In previous years neighbors complained about dangerous traffic maneuvers, loud music and streets strew with litter and broken glass.

This year, police presence at the festival quadrupled to about 100 officers. Like the previous two years, this year's festival was peaceful until after it closed.

Word said he was fed up with Carijama, calling the behavior of the crowd "pathetic." The chief said he would not be inclined to allow Carijama to be held again next year.

"We thought a change of venue would deter the rowdies, but apparently, you can't deter these people," Word added.

Greg Marlow, 23, of Oakland, attended Carijama, and said it is usually younger kids between 12 and 17 who cause trouble.

"People get drunk, smoke a lot of weed and start fighting," said Nick Watkins, 20, who was at 13th Street and Broadway after 6 p.m., watching while police tried to move loiterers elsewhere. "It happens every year."

During the festival itself, hundreds of people sat happily under the sun watching dancers samba and salsa from the stairs of City Hall. They enjoyed spicy food and perused merchandise from numerous vendor stalls.

Some people complained the new venue and heavy police presence killed the community spirit of Carijama that for years has been held in a shady park.

"It's not relaxed at all," said Nathan Jones, 35. "There's really nothing here for the kids."

But others said they liked the new location better and were glad to see so many police patrolling the otherwise peaceful event on bikes and by foot.

"If (the police) weren't here, there'd be so many problems going on now," Cynthia Freeman, 18, said during the event. "There would be fighting. You know people got guns ... because this is Oakland."

Ashanti Reynolds came to the festival with several friends.

"I was so scared. We wanted to take BART home and we got caught up in the mob. It was like being caught in an ocean current," she said.


OAKLAND
Carijama Festival ends in violence for 4th year
Police use tear gas to quell melee after music celebration

Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 1, 2004



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



For the fourth straight year, Oakland's annual Carijama Festival ended Monday with an outbreak of violence -- this time temporarily shutting two downtown BART stations and prompting police to use tear gas to break up unruly crowds.

Deputy Police Chief Pete Dunbar said two people were arrested and at least four were treated for respiratory difficulties after breathing the gas.

"Some innocent people were affected by the tear gas, and we're sorry about that,'' said Dunbar.

The melee started a little before 6 p.m., Dunbar said, when a fight broke out between security guards hired by festival organizers and some people in the crowd, which had dwindled from about 2,000 festival-goers to about 400.

Dunbar said three shots were fired somewhere in the crowd, but apparently no one was injured. Some of the 85 officers assigned to the festival moved in to break up the crowd, which moved up Broadway.

At one point, a canister of gas was fired to break up a mob that was looting a chicken vendor's van at Frank Ogawa Plaza, where the daylong Caribbean music festival was staged.

A second canister was used to disperse a crowd as two women fought outside the Wendy's restaurant on Broadway at 15th Street. One woman was shoved through the restaurant's plate-glass window. It was not clear if she was injured.

First, the 12th Street BART station and then the 19th Street station were closed, and trains routed straight through so riders would not exit into the riot, Dunbar said. Both were open again by 7:30 p.m.

Festival vendor Dave Schumacher accused police of overreacting.

"The tear gas was so unnecessary,'' he said. "It was unnecessary, excessive force. People were covering their faces, choking, coughing -- I had trouble breathing.''

The popular Caribbean music concert began 15 years ago at Mosswood Park in North Oakland but this year was moved downtown near City Hall so police could provide better control.

Police Department officials insisted on the move after last year's event ended in a clash between officers and 1,500 rioters. More than a dozen people were arrested, and three women were injured -- two stabbed and one beaten --

by a mob.

Organizers of the yearly Memorial Day festival blamed this year's trouble, like last year's, on rowdy young people who showed up late in the day and started the violence and vandalism.

Monday's Memorial Day festival began at 11 a.m. with a parade, music and dancing.

E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein [at] sfchronicle.com.

the tear gas cannister is in the middle top of the picture below the tables, it is silver and black. this picture was taken by an indybay reporter on his cell phone, so sorry for the poor quality. the view is also through the window that was broken during a fight. according to indybay reporters on the scene and other eyewitnesses, young kids - including at least one baby - were inside the wendy's when the cops shot the tear gas into the restaurant to break up the fight. 4 tear gas cannisters were shot surrounding this incident alone, but only one was seen inside the wendy's by the reporter that took this pic.