May Day off to a Stellar Start in Oakland. What's the Message Again?? Who is the target??

Here we go with plenty of pictures. Is this what we are to expect from now and throughout the spring and summer. Senseless criminal acts committed against random victims.

Smooth move. I smell the Ruckus Society at work once again....

A group of protesters vandalized dozens of businesses, cars and any property they came across while they marched through the Mission on Monday night.

The mile-long trek of vandalism began on 18th and Dolores streets, where a group of more than 100 protesters met as part of an early May Day march. Protesters walked West on 18th Street, turned left on Valencia Street, turned right on Duboce Avenue and another made a right on Mission Street before being confronted by riot police at 14th and Mission streets, according to Justin Beck and independent journalist who followed the protesters.

It is not immediately known how many people were arrested. The Occupy San Francisco group released a statement early Tuesday Morning saying that the group of vandals were not part of the movement, but the statement was taken down shortly after.

Several of the protesters, described as wearing all black and covering their faces, threw paint sacks and wrote anarchy signs and a message that read “Yuppies out!” at the restaurant’s windows.

They don't care who they hit. To them it is a faceless and impersonal juvenile act...and they have leeched onto the the Occupy Movement for good. No changing that. Just watch this as it plays out today.

rmed with crowbars, bats and other metal objects, a group of protesters smashed businesses windows in a five block stretch of Valencia Street, from 18th Street to Duboce Avenue.

The bar manager at Locanda, Gabriel Lowe remembers hearing three loud bangs, when he looked out the window he saw a protester throwing paint sacks at the storefront. Several witnesses said they saw a protester trying to break the windows with the valet parking sign that’s in front of the restaurant. The ordeal lasted about five minutes, he said.

A diminished group of protesters continued smashing car windshields, side minors and slashing tires as they marched through Valencia Street. Their attacks appeared to have bee targeted at luxury cars like BMW’s and Mercedes Benz’, but they also vandalized a 90s Toyota Sienna Mini Van.

Steven Lopez was having dinner with friends at his Glen Park home when he received a phone call from the alarm company telling them that someone had broken some of the windows at ArtZone 461 Gallery on Valencia Street.

“We area small art gallery, we are not elistist,” he said, puzzled why his gallery was targeted.

Heather Brodie, who is a student and an employee at Locanda came to her parked car only to find that vandals had smashed her windshield and door windows.

“They are hurting people like them,” she said, referring to herself as a working class citizen.

Some businesses like Four Barrel were spared from greater damage thanks to good Samaritans who tried to stop the protesters.

More info and plenty of pictures.
missionlocal.org...

may day is supposed to be a day for the workers,which here in toronto people just call into work sick to protest.
the story you posted is disturbing.
isn't may day supposed to be a celebration and a fertility festival where people dance around the may pole?!!!
people suck! peace please!!!

Let them come at me with a crowbar.
I'll show them anarchy.

reply to post by jibeho


Apparently anyone who has an income greater than the person protesting is a 1%’er!

I laugh but it’s really a sad state of affairs. How does vandalism fix anything? Who do they really think they’re hurting? Are they sticking it to THE MAN when they burn down their neighbor’s business??

reply to post by jibeho


So......why doesnt those,in OWS take these guys masks off,and proceed to beat the living hell out of them? Are they afraid to do it?

If this was my movement,these "holes" wouldn't be in it.

reply to post by seabag


Agreed! They struck a small art gallery, vandalized small restaurants, damaged cars of the everyday working people etc etc. There is no message here. Just simple criminal acts committed by a bunch of hoods. There is more to come.

They just arrested 5 "anarchists" in my neck of the woods in a plot to blow up a local bridge. You know who they will soon be attached to.

www.wkyc.com...

reply to post by sonnny1


I often wonder. I know they tried to fight back against the black bloc bunch in Oakland last year as the began to damage a Whole Foods store. I think they know they are outgunned by a group of armed thugs.

reply to post by jibeho


what a mess of an Organization.

Sorry,I would do what I have to do,to keep integrity,and semblance. They are afraid,plain and simple. They shouldn't be though.

Judging by those street names, that's just across the bay in San Francisco... Looks like today there are some Golden Gate Ferry workers on strike, service shut down... Lot of commuters rely on that service.

I wonder if I'm the only person that thinks it irronic to protest being a 99% person by not working....Heres the message...

I don't like being poor, so I'm going not work...I'll show you!!!

Originally posted by jibeho
They struck a small art gallery, vandalized small restaurants, damaged cars of the everyday working people etc etc. ......

Have they said where they are sleeping and where they are a poop'n and a pee'n ?? During their camp out (wonder if they had smore's around the fire ) they were publically doing all that and it was a pretty stinky business. Is this thing of theirs a one day event or are they back in the parks camping out for free?

You should all know I'm the first to jump on the OWS bash wagon......

But doesn't this stink at all to anyone else??? Or is it just me... I know the OWS protests here start at 10 am (you know..getting up at ten in the morning sounds great)


but seriously.... This just seems fishy... Look at the sentiment of OWS around here... You have people who want real change, then bumbling idiots who if you disagree with they yell at you (who knows what they are capable of in real life or in large groups)

I may have answered my own question...

But Also it is May day, and there's a lot of people out... Who knows these could be random acts of violence and the people doing them could be blaming OWS

I mean.. its possible... This just seems SO out of character for the protests... I mean right off the bat, really???

No poopin?
No peein?
No fornication in the streets?

Sounds like a fizzle to me.

Personally I think this is very stupid movement on many accounts.

1st working and living has never been completely fair, it’s just the nature of life, deal with it and do the best you can with what you’ve got. Not everybody is born to understand math, and likewise not everybody is born with what it take make millions of dollars. It just fact of life.

2nd wall street is the wrong enemy, it was the industrial revolution and wall street that really gave this country a push years back. Wall street has a depression, we all feel the pain!

OWS is protest the wrong things, I think people are smart, but for some reason in large groups we become stupid. Our worst enemy is our own selves. We have allowed industry to move to other countries in turn damaging our own economy. We became a nation of consumers instead of a nation of producers. Then we the people encourage this system by not supporting or own countries productions. Not in the way buy or the we treat or support industry. We should be encourage industry and wall street as much as possible. When wall street is happy, and industry is happy they make money, when if they make money it filters down and we all make money.

People complain about the economy, they want good jobs, yet without production you don’t have production jobs, we are left with being consumers with consumer based jobs. If we don’t start encouraging industry and wall street….well in years to come I hope all you OWS supports can get use to saying “Hello, welcome to Walmart”

People seem to be confused when it comes to this topic so lets separate facts, and I will state, that I am not interested in the OWS movement or the Anarchist movement -

These kids who smash windows are Anarchists and Black Bloc members (who are, for the most part, anonymous to each other)

en.wikipedia.org...

Black Bloc is a tatic, NOT A MOVEMENT, that was developed in the 1980's in Germany. They have nothing to do with OWS.

Black Bloc tend to mobilize around any protest and often take it over. During the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, I was actively involved with groups trying to stop the games and was exposed to working with the Black Bloc. While I may not agree with their tactics, I can say they were a diverse group of people who really believed strongly in what they were doing. They came from all walks of life, age groups, income brackets, etc. Most were really nice, others were a-holes. Pretty average slice of the population....

People also need to stop saying that these people are "false flag" agents, FBI, or CIA. I have no doubt that this has happened, the evidence is there and working in an anonymous group like Black Bloc leaves it open for infiltration BUT 99% of the time, these direct actions are committed by people who believe in what they are doing.

To state otherwise is misleading and false.

Chris Hedges wrote an article a few months back titled "Black Bloc: The Cancer In Occupy" and several within that movement responded. It might be worthwhile for people interested in what is happening to read them from the POV of a Black Bloc member.

nplusonemag.com...

This is an article where a Black Bloc journalists interviews Chris Hedges about his article
truth-out.org...:interview-with-chris-hedges-about-black-bloc

In my experience, Black Bloc movements are genuine and not infiltrated. It is the people who fund and direct these movements whos motives I question.

reply to post by jibeho


Oakland has agent provocateurs and instigators, as well as lots of naive suburban 'anarchist' foot soldiers to go along with their instigation.

It has been a hotbed of political activism since the 60's and the original Black Panthers feeding kids and helping communities deal with cops and drug dealers. So, since then, it's activist community has been heavily infiltrated.

The community is a mix of highly educated and incredibly poor and disenfranchised. This combination births radical activism.

So, there' your motivation for violence again. Discredit and divide the movement.

We should just do a foreign exchange.
Round up all these losers and trade em in for Mexicans who actually want to work and contribute to society.
They can protest in the slums of Mexico city where the 9 year olds would beat them to a pulp.

Originally posted by jibeho
reply to post by seabag

 

Agreed! They struck a small art gallery, vandalized small restaurants, damaged cars of the everyday working people etc etc. There is no message here. Just simple criminal acts committed by a bunch of hoods. There is more to come.

They just arrested 5 "anarchists" in my neck of the woods in a plot to blow up a local bridge. You know who they will soon be attached to.

www.wkyc.com...

Anarchists.
They should be rounded up and… well you know, re-educated.

Originally posted by wrdwzrd


People also need to stop saying that these people are "false flag" agents, FBI, or CIA. I have no doubt that this has happened, the evidence is there and working in an anonymous group like Black Bloc leaves it open for infiltration BUT 99% of the time, these direct actions are committed by people who believe in what they are doing.

In my experience, Black Bloc movements are genuine and not infiltrated. It is the people who fund and direct these movements whos motives I question.

I, too, have experience working in and near these groups of individuals. And I can say from personal experience that they are indeed infiltrated. I've seen people taken down by people later exposed as agents in mainstream media. I've seen the photographs of people identified as FBI agents in court cases, who had worked next to close friends of mine for years, even creating and suggesting crimes to commit which later provided groundwork for arrests. So it most certainly exists.

I also know that, as you say, the majority of the members are 'genuine'. But that doesnt mean their actions are not carefully guided by people with an agenda totally separate from what their own are. A lot of these kids are too young and naive to consider the real impacts and ramifications of their actions.So, sure, they are 'genuine'. But often it is just genuine idiocy and naivete. I can say I haven't seen the 'tactics' work since 99 in Seattle, and as I continue to age, I find myself questioning if that was actually the 'success' i once thought it was. Because all the violence ultimately does is discredit the larger movement (instead of legitimizing it by comparison, as it once did), and in the end, just justifies a massive police budget in the public mind.

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by jibeho

 

So......why doesnt those,in OWS take these guys masks off,and proceed to beat the living hell out of them? Are they afraid to do it?

If this was my movement,these "holes" wouldn't be in it.

edit on 1-5-2012 by sonnny1 because: (no reason given)

Oh, it's happened. Trust me.

But they mob up and protect each other. And they usually know they pretty much enjoy the protection of the cops, who at the very least stand around and let 'em act like hooligans, if not actually giving them police cover.

Fro example, watch this video at about the 45 second mark where a fully-black-clad 'anarchist' gets to duck behind police lines (this was from a G20 protest)

.