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A demonstration that began in Berkeley ended abruptly in Oakland Wednesday night when a man believed to be an undercover law enforcement officer pulled out a gun and pointed it at the crowd.
Police said more than 100 demonstrators marched through Oakland and Berkeley to protest grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers in the deaths of two unarmed black men.
Under cloudy skies, turnout was smaller than earlier in the week, when demonstrators in the area threw rocks at police and shut down a major freeway.
Two officers, both dressed as civilians and wearing bandanas over their faces, were walking with the group when the demonstrators started pointing at them yelling, "Hey, they're undercover, they're cops!"
Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton tweeted Thursday morning that the man seen in the photos was not an Oakland police officer.
Oakland police were the first to respond to the scene on a report from another agency, Bolton said. "That outside agency has been notified to provide details and address concerns" regarding the officers' behavior at the protest, he added.
"Outside agency"= law enforcement agency w/ overlapping or different jurisdiction @tatzanx @Mtbkgrl @itsweezie @CourtneyPFB @RepBarbaraLee
— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014
UPDATE
More details from the San Francisco Chronicle:
About 50 people were marching near Lake Merritt just after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when some of the demonstrators began calling out two men who were walking with the group, said the freelance photographer, Michael Short.
“Just as we turned up 27th Street, the crowd started yelling at these two guys, saying they were undercover cops,” Short said Thursday. “Somebody snatched a hat off the shorter guy’s head and he was fumbling around for it. A guy ran up behind him, knocked him down on the ground. That guy jumped backed up and chased after him and tackled him and the crowd began surging on them.
“The other taller guy had a small baton out,” Short said. “But as the crowd started surging on them, he pulled out a gun.”
Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton tweeted about a report of “an officer in need of assistance” near the Whole Foods on Bay Place north of Lake Merritt.
Bolton, though, said the men were not Oakland police officers. Frank Bonifacio, an Oakland police spokesman, said the department responded to “a request for assistance made by an outside agency near Bay and Harrison Streets in Oakland.”
“We have received a number of questions about the incident,” Bonifacio said in an e-mail Thursday. “We are referring all inquiries regarding this incident to the California Highway Patrol.”
CHP officials did not return calls for comment.
Short said the undercover officers were wearing sweats and had their faces covered.
After the shorter officer tackled the person who attacked him, he pulled out a set of handcuffs. The taller man then radioed for help, Short said...UPDATE 2
Several protesters took to Twitter to say that the undercover officers had instigated acts of vandalism, and were banging on windows alongside others.
Some indications the undercover operators are California Highway Patrol.
UPDATE 3
Via Mashable:
KTVU reported that one of the demonstrators yelled "Hey, they're undercover, they're cops!" The officers, whose faces were masked, began walking away. The crowd followed, and one of the officers reportedly pushed a protester aside; the protester pushed the officer back.
The officer then tackled and arrested the protester, and more police arrived on the scene, KTVU said.UPDATE 4
A Mother Jones reporter tweeted this out as it went down:
Crowd quickly turning on each other. Two marchers outed as "undercover cops" #oaklandprotest
— Gabrielle Canon (@GabrielleCanon) December 11, 2014
UPDATE 5
RE: Reports that undercover cop at #oaklandprotest for #BlackLivesMatter was provoking violence, here's the racket: pic.twitter.com/uUbi32RPgk
— Adam Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) December 11, 2014-RW
OMG.
ReplyDeleteThe bozo is holding his gun "Gangsta" style.
Handgun shooting experts, is that proper ?
I was always led to believe that is a bad way to hold your handgun.
Interestingly, he's got his trigger finger in the right place(in terms of training) even though he's got it turned sideways...
DeleteYeah, definitely gangsta style here, but when you fire a pistol one-handed, you need to cock it to the inside a little so that the sights line up easily with your eye, especially when you in a position where your torso is square to the direction you are aiming (as you would do if you were wearing body armor). Qualified Expert in pistol here. US Marines.
DeleteIt's a bad way to hold a handgun. The gangstas probably learned it from old gangster films which showed shooters turning a Thompson sideways like that. The Tommygun had a tendency to climb, so the shooter could turn it sideways in order to keep the rounds heading downrange (though moving to one side) instead of letting them go over the heads of their targets.
DeleteAll aside..
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen a news photo where the weapon was starin' STRAIGHT into the lens???
Cell-phone. The new journalism.
It's a good way if you need instant street cred, but not good for accuracy.
ReplyDeleteKalifornia... in more reasonable places this gesture could've gotten him shot, pronto.
ReplyDelete