Feature Archives

On Tuesday, January 27th, at 7:00pm, the Santa Cruz City Council will consider recommendations by Mayor Cynthia Mathews and Councilmembers Lynn Robinson and Ryan Coonerty to make Santa Cruz’ downtown and beach area "more safe, vibrant and welcoming for community members and visitors alike. This effort will improve and expand existing ordinances in order to make them consistent, understandable and enforceable; other programs will address specific issues."

The BART police officer filmed shooting Oscar Grant was arrested on January 13th. On January 14th, thousands gathered in front of Oakland City Hall for a rally to protest the shooting. One of the rally's organizers stated, "The job is not done. He has been arrested but he has not yet been prosecuted. The fight is definitely not over." When the main protests ended, there was a break-away protest. Around 8:20pm a Wells Fargo was attacked. Police moved in with tear-gas and over the next few hours there were 18 arrests. On January 16th, court hearings for arrested protesters were held. Oakland students walked out of classes to speak out at the county courthouse. At 4:40pm, students returned from the county courthouse to Oakland High. Other students started joining them and the police charged in. Four arrested and one student attacked violently by the OPD. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19th, a March for Justice & Reparations for the Family of Oscar Grant III started at West Oakland BART.

In a new interview, San Francisco journalist and former Black Panther Kiilu Nyasha writes that San Quentin Six prisoner "Hugo L. A. Pinell, nicknamed 'Yogi Bear,' will go to Board again on January 17. His last Board appearance was November 14, 2006 when he was denied two years, despite having no rule infractions for 24 years. Make that nearly 27 years clean time now. One of George Jackson's closest comrades, Yogi has now been incarcerated in California prisons for almost 45 years, nearly 39 in solitary confinement, the last 19 in the Pelican Bay SHU (Security Housing Unit, or 24/7 lockup)."

On January 7th, a rally was held to protest the police murder of Oscar Grant. Protesters gathered at the Fruitvale BART station at 3pm. After dozens of speakers addressed the crowd for about 2 hours, a march began. Hundreds of protesters marched up International Blvd towards downtown Oakland. As the crowd passed the Lake Merritt BART area, there was a brief confrontation where a police car was attacked and a dumpster lit on fire. Within minutes, riot police arrived and shot tear gas into the crowd. The protest continued into the night as dozens of protesters massed and split up repeatedly, smashing windows, lighting fires in dumpsters, and torching at least two cars as police struggled to keep up. Oakland police are reporting that they arrested 105 people for a variety of offenses.

The Coalition Against Police Execution (CAPE) has announced a "Rally for Justice for Oscar Grant" at Oakland City Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 14th. There will be a benefit for legal defense Saturday, January 17th. On January 12th, a demonstration against the police murder of Oscar Grant was held in SF.

In the early hours of January 1st, BART police shot and killed a 22 year old man, Oscar Grant, on the platform of the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. Witnesses report that Grant was "lying on his stomach with his hands out in a non-threatening position when he was shot". Police have confirmed Grant was unarmed and have suggested the shooting was an accident. Grant lived in Hayward and leaves behind a 4-year-old daughter.

On Wednesday, January 7th, there will be a memorial service at 11am at Palma Ceia Baptist Church and then a rally to protest the shooting from 3pm till 8pm at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland.

On December 23rd, four out of five activists on trial at Winchester Crown Court, UK were found guilty of 'Conspiracy to Blackmail' Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) after a three and a half month long trial. The trial is part of a larger attack on the animal rights movement. In May this year, Sean Kirtley, an activist involved with Stop Sequani Animal Torture (SSAT), was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for updating a website with news about a legal, nonviolent campaign to close down Sequani laboratories in Ledbury.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is calling for international demonstrations on December 25th to demand the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners. Sa’adat, the secretary general of the PFLP, was illegally jailed by the Israeli army two and a half years ago and is supposed to be sentenced on December 25th.