Police in Oakland disperse crowd using a flashbang while they try to rescue Iraq vet

Way to go, you jackbooted thugs, you fascist assholes. I hope you feel really big now. These people were trying to rescue the 24 year old two-tour Iraq War veteran you just shot in the face with a tear gas canister — fracturing his damned skull, by the way — and you have the gall to toss a flashbang at their feet. The lack of empathy is staggering. I hope the 1% is willing to bring you into their ranks, because taking orders from them and oppressing peaceful protesters in such a violent manner is simple cowardice. Cowardice that should be rewarded monetarily, because you’re part of the very 99% whose throats you’re stomping otherwise.

Every protest that fights the establishment will have casualties. I hope this guy pulls through, because he’s given his body for his country three times over. It would be beyond sad if the assholes who took his life happened to be countrymen fighting for the rich.

Cuttlefish wrote a lullaby about these events. If I could find a tune, I’d use it to cry myself to sleep.

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Police in Oakland disperse crowd using a flashbang while they try to rescue Iraq vet
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6 thoughts on “Police in Oakland disperse crowd using a flashbang while they try to rescue Iraq vet

  1. 1

    What the FUCK? That group trying to check on a wounded man was clearly no threat to the police officers and yet they deployed explosive weaponry (even if technically non lethal) into the middle of a tightly packed crowd that they KNEW also contained a wounded man…

    Are flashbangs really standard riot control equipment anyway? I’d have expected CS gas grenades to be far more effective in open air situations

    No matter what, that cop deserves charges of reckless endangerment at a minimum

  2. 2

    I’ve posted this today in several places but I cannot resist posting it here too, in response to these sickening events:

    Oakland has always been famous for its lying police and its brutal prosecutorial abuses against “liberals”. They are famous for arresting and prosecuting an environmentalist leader who was victim of a car bombing (Judi Bari, plenty of links on the web) in 1990 —they charged her for bombing herself!!!!! She had been fighting against excessive timber harvests and was probably bombed by industry operatives.

    She eventually charged the Oakland Police Department and FBI with violating her constitutional rights. She and her companion won 4.4 million dollars in damages. Today, it is ironic to read the overly-optimistic press releases which followed that judgement:

    “On June 11, 2002, a federal jury returned a stunning verdict in favor of Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney in their landmark civil rights lawsuit against four FBI agents and three Oakland Police officers.”

    “The jury unanimously found that six of the seven FBI and OPD defendants tried to frame Judi and Darryl in an effort to crush Earth First! and chill participation in Redwood Summer. That was evident in the fact that 80% of the $4.4 million total damage award was for violation of their First Amendment rights to speak out and organize politically in defense of the forests.”

    “It’s really beyond our wildest dreams,” said Darlene Comingore, Judi Bari’s friend and executor of her estate who stood in for her as co-plaintiff in this suit. “We hope the FBI and Oakland and all the police forces out there that think they can violate people’s rights and get away with it are listening because the people of the state of California and Oakland today said, ‘No, you can’t. You can’t get away with it.’ “

  3. 3

    Sick fuckers. That is horrifying. Look at them in all their protective gear, just standing around casually; while the protesters are active, purposeful and completely vulnerable and unprotected, yet still trying to help an injured vet. I fucking hate law enforcement. In 1918 my great uncle was shot in the leg as he exited a classroom during an anti-conscription protest that he wasn’t even part of. The fucking mounties wouldn’t let anyone help him so, fully-conscious, he lay there and bled to death. Fuckers.

  4. 4

    @Aliasalpha
    CS gas was used to flush Vietcong out of their tunnels during the Vietnam war. As of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, it is prohibited from use in war.

    To clarify, CS gas is a military-grade teargas that civilized nations the world over have agreed not to use if/when war breaks out.

    Oh, but feel free to use it on unarmed, peaceful civilians. /sarcasm

  5. 5

    This day was horrific. So much for protecting and serving the people! Despicable. I still can’t find the words to properly express the sadness that I feel. 🙁

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