Feature Archives

A coalition of community groups are demanding the City of Fresno establish police accountability and community confidence in the police department. Representatives from 20 grassroots organizations were at Fresno City Hall on February 13th calling for an independent investigation into the beating of a homeless man by a Fresno police officer. Video of the incident has been shown nationwide.

Page Mill Properties began buying up apartment buildings in the largely low-income and immigrant city of East Palo Alto in 2006. A short while later, the company announced rent increases that violated the city's Rent Stabilization Ordinance. The giant landlord/investor was challenged by tenant Christopher Lund, who called on the public pension fund CalPERS, a major Page Mill investor, to help stop Page Mill Properties's predatory actions. Page Mill began a campaign to ruin Mr. Lund's reputation, and with the assistance of the Palo Alto Police Department, tried to entrap the tenant activist.

UPDATE: Former BART officer Johannes Mehserle made bail and was released Friday afternoon.

On Friday the 6th, many organizations called for a day of resistance to police brutality. At 9AM at the Wiley W. Manuel courthouse in Oakland, many of the over 130 people arrested for protesting the police murder of Oscar Grant had their arraignments. The Oakland 100 Support Committee called for a show of support. On the same day and court, a pre-trial hearing was scheduled but postponed for Stafani Tang stemming from demonstrations at the Marine Recruiting Station at Berkeley. At 3PM, families of victims of police murder and supporters gathered for a "March of Stolen Lives" at Frank Ogawa Plaza.

On January 30th, bail for BART police officer Johannes Mehserle was set at $3 million. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse and marched toward 14th and Broadway after the bail was announced. Oakland police fired tear gas and projectiles at protesters and later blocked off several roads. At least nine people were tackled and arrested for "failure to disperse." On January 31st, a demonstration was held at Oakland City Hall. Around 50 people gathered despite the large number of police present. Demonstrators read their demands for police accountability.

Jeffrey Free Luers writes, "Alongside protecting the wild and fostering respect for our planet, one of the tenets of this movement is creating a sustainable future for our communities. In doing so, we must develop communities that have the ability to provide food, water, sanitation, resources and energy in a decentralized and autonomous manner."

On January 23rd, Annette Garcia, a mother of three, was shot to death by Riverside Sheriffs after they received calls that she was suicidal and under duress due to a marriage dispute. Reports by the family and witnesses state that she "posed no harm to the officers involved, yet she was shot at six times until a bullet hit her in the back as she tried to run for cover." Due to this outrage and other recent police misconducts and abuse around the nation, several community members from Watsonville and Santa Cruz held a candlelight vigil protest on January 25th in Watsonville.

American Indian leader and political prisoner Leornard Peltier was brutally beaten on Tuesday, January 20th, just after he was transferred to the Canaan Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. On Friday, January 23rd, the American Indian community and their supporters came out in the rain in San Francisco to protest the attack on Leonard Peltier. Family members of Leonard feel the assault was orchestrated by the FBI to prejudice his next parole hearing.