By: Trevor Loudon
KeyWikiBlog
Cross posted from New Zeal Blog.
Bay Area Police officer, Johannes Mehserle, who was found guilty Thursday in court of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Oakland, California man, Oscar Grant.
At least a dozen businesses in Oakland were damaged after the jury reached its verdict in Los Angeles.
Protesters looted a Foot Locker store and ransacked a jewelry store. The windows of a bank were smashed, fires were set in several trash bins and a small incendiary device was detonated near a police station, but caused no damage.
Police said they made 83 arrests throughout the night for violations that included failure to disperse, vandalism and assaulting a police officer.
Graffiti on one building declared, “Oakland is our amusement park tonight!” Cleaning crews began sweeping up broken glass and debris early Friday.
In response to the violence, Abel Habtegeorgis, spokesman for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, said the community needs to focus on changing the system.
“We want to address the system that recruited and trained Johannes Mehserle, that’s the fight we need to continue on,” he said. “We want to see as much effort and energy as police put into preparing for a riot, put into putting the community onboard and engaging in forums and workshops.”
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights was founded by former Obama Green Jobs Czar and Bay area communist and police baiter, Van Jones.
Van Jones “interacting” with police, early 2000s
Jones’ founding partner in the Center was Bay Area lawyer and Copwatch founder Diana Frappier, believed to be the daughter of Van Jones’ supporters and former Weather Underground terrorist organization associates Jon Frappier and Nancy Frappier.
