The San Francisco Thread

[dorkfish]

Nah, we usually just go through the Magnolia options (though 21st Amendment's food is way better). Old Thunderpussy is such a treat.

[real talk]

i'm so pissed i'm going to loot this Korean electronics store

Where was looting mentioned?

[bug on your lip]

in my post before this one


hope that helps !

[real talk]

How enlightened of you.

[fiyahhh!]

Is anyone else watching this on tv? The cops just started firing tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. People are breaking store windows and kicking in car headlights.

[PotVsKtl]

Oakland is hard.

[dorkfish]

They bashed up some old Indian woman's car and yelled "Fuck your car bitch!" a lot. Then the news people talked to the Indian woman and she was all crying "How will I get to work, now?"

[SuzyLee]

Is anyone else watching this on tv? The cops just started firing tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. People are breaking store windows and kicking in car headlights.

They bashed up some old Indian woman's car and yelled "Fuck your car bitch!" a lot. Then the news people talked to the Indian woman and she was all crying "How will I get to work, now?"

What?! When did all this start?!

[fiyahhh!]

It started earlier this evening at the Fruitvale BART station. What started as a peaceful protest turned into "fuck your car bitch!". There's another protest scheduled for tomorrow morning at either City Hall or BART headquarters or somewhere else -- I can't remember.

[dorkfish]

Mine was from a few hours ago. The riot is pretty lame by TV-whoring standards, at the moment.

The one tomorrow is supposed to be angrier, but we'll see about it.

[dorkfish]

the chronicle interviewed the same lady:

(01-07) 21:13 PST Oakland -- A protest over the fatal shooting by a BART police officer of an unarmed man mushroomed into a violent confrontation tonight, as a faction of protesters smashed a police car and storefronts, set several cars on fire and blocked streets in downtown Oakland.

Protesters smashed the storefronts of McDonald's as well as stores called Creative African Braids and Oakland Yoon's Pharmacy. Cars along 14th Street were smashed, and some were set ablaze.

A woman walked out of Creative African Braids holding a baby in her arms.

"This is our business," she shouted. "This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?"

Nia Sykes, 24, of San Francisco, a protester who was with the group, said, "I feel like the night is going great. I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight back.

"It's for the murder of a black male," said Sykes, who is black. The demonstration "is totally appropriate."

Sykes had little sympathy for the owner of Creative African Braids.

"She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life," Sykes said. She added that she did have one worry for the night: "I just hope nobody gets shot or killed."

Near 14th and Alice streets, Myron Bell was taking lessons in a step, a form of dance popular among African Americans, when he looked out the window and saw people jumping on his Lexus sedan.

Bell, 42, came out to find that almost all of his windows, including the front and back had been smashed and it appeared that someone had tried to set the car on fire.

"I'm for the cause," Bell said. "But I'm against the violence and destruction."

Nearby, Godhuli Bose stood near her smashed Toyota Corolla, and a protester walked by, repeatedly calling her a misogynist epithet.

"F- your car. F- your car," he said to Bose. Bose, a high school teacher: "I can't afford this."

The protest started peacefully shortly after 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, where BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward to death early New Year's Day. BART shut down the station well into the evening commute, although the demonstration there was peaceful.

However, shortly after nightfall, a group of roughly 200 protesters split off and head toward downtown Oakland, prompting the transit agency to close the Lake Merritt station.

Oakland Police Officer Michael Cardoza parked his car across the intersection of Eighth and Madison streets, to prevent traffic from flowing toward Broadway and into the protest. But he told The Chronicle that a group of 30 to 40 protesters quickly surrounded his car and started smashing it with bottles and rocks.

Cardoza jumped out of the car and said some protesters tried to set the car on fire, while others jumped on top of the hood - incidents repeatedly shown on television. Cardoza said the protesters "were trying to entice us into doing something."

A group of protesters also set a trash bin aflame, moving it adjacent to the police car.

Police threw tear gas into the group to disperse it, Sgt. Mark MacAulay said. After 8 p.m., there were numerous arrests.

"When you get that mob mentality, it can be dangerous," MacAulay said.

Other protesters marched on BART's 12th Street Station about 7 p.m., prompting the transit agency to close the downtown hub station even as it was reopening the Lake Merritt and Fruitvale stations.

Protesters blocked the intersection of 14th and Broadway, near the downtown BART station entrance. As police put on helmets and gas masks and stood in a line formation, protesters held signs that read, "Your idea of justice?" and "Jail Killer Cops."

One man lay in the intersection with his face down and his hands behind his back - seemingly evoking the position that Grant was in when he was shot.

Some protesters wore masks over their faces as they yelled at police. Roughly a dozen stood just a few feet away from police as they screamed at them. Chants included "pigs go home," "the fascist police, no justice, no peace" and "we are all Oscar Grant."

Mandingo Hayes, who is black, said he went to the protest because "we're tired of all these police agencies getting away with shooting unarmed black and Latino males."

Hayes, 36, downplayed the attack on the police car.

"For a police car to get abused, and for a person to get shot and killed, which would you rather be?" said Hayes, a construction worker from San Pablo.

The core group of protesters was about 40 people, several of whom were with Revolution Books, a Berkeley bookstore. A man distributing "The Revolution" newspaper shouted "This whole damn system is guilty!"

Earlier in the day, police had been largely passive. But at around 7:54 p.m., they began to push the crowd toward Lake Merritt. One officer shouted "Get Back! Get Back! Get Back!" As they forced protesters back, protesters smashed windows, cars and threw objects at police.

[dorkfish]

also, Nia Sykes is a dunce.

[fiyahhh!]

also, Nia Sykes is a dunce.

F'realz

[marooko]

When I first heard about this story there wasn't a whole lot reported on it. i figured it was another case of bad guy = good, cop = bad. I was also surprised to learn BART police had guns. I saw the video for the first time last night. Can you say Oakland riots?

What happened is just horrible. Does anyone know if BART Police get proper police training, or at least some sort of extensive training to carry a weapon?

[marooko]

Officer Johannes Mehserle shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward to death

makes it sound like it was multiple times. yes, i know it was a fatal shot.

[Geno_g]

I got a picture from tonight in Oakland from the Riot/Protest a couple nights ago

"Terrorist wear a badge"

[fiyahhh!]

they spelled it "terrists" ha! failblog fodder for sure.

[Jakewc151]

I live literally a block away from lake merritt bart station. Monday was madness. I couldn't even get home without going practically around the entire lake. I was originally going to take bart to a session but had to cancel since the whole station got closed. There have been helicopters circling my neighborhood for basically 5 days straight.

What happened to Oscar Grant was seriously fucked up and I encourage protests and outrage.. But all these fuckers who try and act hard by lighting innocent people's cars on fire and ruining small businesses here in Oakland are just as bad as that cop..why give Oakland a bad name under such premise?

Seriously, all those fuckers who rioted on Monday and vandalized the shit out of 14th should goto fucking jail.. giving us a bad name and shit.. ridiculous. if u search youtube u can find plenty of videos of people bragging about how they did this and that with some soulja boy in the background. LAME

[real talk]

Hearing you.

It's a really sad situation what is up with protest scenes. Pro-violence radicals are missing the point.

For every zealous bottle thrower I guarantee you there were 3 non-violent observers. That stuff just gets overshadowed.

[BROKENDOLL]

My, I don't believe I've ever stumbled into The San Francisco Thread...(stumbling back out now...)

[BROKENDOLL]

Wow, you guys...Seriously sorry to hear all this. I haven't paid much attention to the news in about a week. Hope everyone's stays out of trouble or harm's way...

[LooseAtTheZoo]

What's going on in San Francisco MLK weekend? I'm in town and looking for some stuff to do.

[Young blood]

Is Oakland really going to burn until monday?

4:05 be there.

[SFChrissy]

Is Oakland really going to burn until monday?

4:05 be there.

hopefully!!!

[fiyahhh!]

Not burned, but many stores in Civic Center Plaza got their windows smashed out tonight. The BART cop surrendered and is enjoying his new digs in Santa Rita today. So will he get shanked with a shiv or shived with a shank?

[fiyahhh!]

Mavericks big wave contest slated for Saturday. Heavy brah presence in Pillar Point Harbor expected.

[fatbastard]

[SFChrissy]

Mavericks big wave contest slated for Saturday. Heavy brah presence in Pillar Point Harbor expected.

Don't knock it my ex is one of the 1st handfull of boys to surf that spot and was on the alternate list for the 1st few years...I went into labor with my second son during the opening ceremonies & blessing of the contest while my little one paddled out with his dad for the blessing...that day was really special and alot of those guys are family...

unfortunately may be going out of business...bummer I love there bread!!!

[fiyahhh!]

The actual Mavericks contest is huge (pun intended) and the participants are definitely cut from a different cloth than the rest of us. I was just sayin' the area will be crowded and crazy this weekend.

[SFChrissy]

gotcha (no pun intended), I'd love to be on a boat out there for all of that...it's come such long way from those guys actualy paddling out to doing tow-ins...my ex got a 4 page layout/cover shot in surfer for wipe-out of the year at mavericks...he's lucky he made it out alive...