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Indybay Feature

Courts are not where we win victories, streets are!

by anarchist news
CALL FOR ANARCHIST PRESENCE AT COMMUNITY GATHERINGS IN OAKLAND AND LOS ANGELES ON THE DAY OF KILLER COP JOHANNES MEHSERLE'S TRIAL VERDICT.
640_oscargrant-demandjustice-jan72009.jpg
In the early hours of January 1st, 2009, Oscar Grant III was murdered by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. The 22 year old father was shot in the back as he lay face-down on the Fruitvale BART platform with BART officer Tony Pirone's knee in his shoulder.

18 months later and 400 miles from the scene of the crime, the killer's show trial has begun.

We know better than to hope for justice from a court. We know that this murder was no accident, no exception to the usual conditions of our lives, just more typical cop shit.

Except this case is different. Thousands of people have watched videos of the execution. The Jan 7th uprising in Oakland resulted in the first prosecution of a cop for an on-duty murder in California history. We are learning that we have power when we act together. But the trial of a single killer cop is not enough. The decisions we make today will set an example for years to come. Now is the time to escalate the struggle against the police.

Let's mobilize as many people as possible to act on the day of the verdict. Let's send the message that no matter what the courts decide, we declare Johannes Mehserle guilty. We declare the racist police state he serves guilty. We ain't gonna tolerate this shit anymore.

Start making plans for the day of the verdict now. The trial is underway, and the judge has said he wants it over by the 4th of July weekend. Organize rideshares to the community gatherings in Oakland and Los Angeles. Get phone trees and email lists set up for people who want to go. Spread information about the trial on social networking sites. Put up posters and talk to people in your neighborhood. Plan walk-outs or occupations. If you can't make it to one of the community gatherings, organize solidarity actions in your town. Keep updated on how the trial is going so you'll know when the jury begins deliberations. On the day of the verdict everyone should be ready to do what they do best.

Be prepared. This trial's verdict brings hella potential to spread anarchy. Let's seize this historic moment and start a chain reaction to win this struggle- not in some fucking court house, but where it matters- in the streets!

JUSTICE FOR OSCAR GRANT!

More information: http://www.indybay.org/oscargrant

Community gatherings on the day of the verdict -

Oakland: 14th and Broadway, 6PM.

Announcement and flyer: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/03/18649730.php

Los Angeles: we will be gathering at the courthouse. If you want to be put on a Text Message list to let you
know when that day will be: Text "TRIAL" to 213-973-3434
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by >^.^
ALRIGHT CHUMS LETS DO THIS! LEEROOOOOOOOOOOY JENKINS!
by be smart/creative, not obvious/predictable
OAKLAND, Calif. -- On Thursday, a Bay Area anarchist group promised action when the verdict comes down in the murder trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.

Oakland police said they'll be ready no matter what sort of trouble breaks out on the street. On Friday they'll begin training for possible civil unrest that could arise after the verdict is announced.

Law enforcement officers will be coming to West Oakland from across the Bay Area to get ready for the possibility of a repeat of the rioting early January of last year in response to the killing of Oscar Grant.

Rioters in Oakland did thousands of dollars in damage to businesses and police and personal vehicles and more than 100 people were arrested.

"We're going to need everybody's help for this situation, if it ends up in the worst case scenario," said Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason.

Police officials said after the verdict is released, they will encourage people to engage in peaceful protest.

"But when you start picking up rocks and you start burning vehicles and breaking out windows, that's where we're going to put a stop to it," said Thomason.

Which is what Friday's training will focus on: tactics in crowd control and suppressing riots.

"I'm pessimistic about what's going to happen. People are already terribly upset," said El Tyna McCree, the owner of a store on 17th Street called Underground Treasures.

Mccree said her shop sustained little damage in the riots, but she admitted she got out just in time.

"As Mayor Dellums said the next day at the press conference, 'If you hadn't gotten out of there, they would have come in and you would have never made it out of your store,'" said McCree. "Because they were headed right at anything that was open."

Across the street at Temple Tattoo, two big windows were smashed out.

Owner Freddy Corbin said he was not so much worried about more vandalism as he was about Oscar Grant's relatives and the city's police department.

"I'm concerned more for his family and what they're going through. And I do tattoo a lot of the Oakland Police Department. I think there's a lot of great guys on Oakland's force, and I just wish everybody the best and hope there's no violence," said Corbin. .

Oakland Police said as soon as the jury gets the Mehserle case, the city will go on alert and the department will be ready to deploy officers anywhere they're needed.
by commenter
If the anarchists are looking for a 'hella potential to spread anarchy' or just an excuse to create hell in the streets, then maybe they should stay home. I am not necessarily saying people shouldn't rise up in case of a miscarriage of justice, but some are looking for an excuse to cause problems, and some are looking to exploit, misappropriate and take over causes for justice, such as Oscar Grant, to promote and push their own agenda; which can be just as extreme and dangerous as the system that we fight against and oppresses us. Justice doesn't always come out riots, but misery and destruction surely does. If an injust and racist system aquits Mesherle and sets a riot or riots off, then so be it, the chickens come home to roost. But if you think this is your time to have fun and smash shit, like drunken Lakers fans, stay home. If you think that this your opportunity to grab power and push your own agenda or ideology through the violence of a riot, stay home, this justice movement isn't yours and you only prove yourself to be just as brutal as the police and the state. We don't need that, we need justice!
by Frisk
This is why it's a bad idea to posture and shit on the internet. Everyone knew about this anyway, there was no reason to post a shitty stupid communique to provide fodder for activist groups and cops. Dumbasses.
by 510
haters.jpg
by television
by **
Do you remember the case of Sherman Austin in San Diego. He operated the activist website Raise the Fist from his computer, and let different people post links to other material. Someone other than himself linked to a bomb making website created by some other teenager in Orange county, however, the police were angry at Austin for his website, so they took the opportunity to say that by failing to delete the link, he was guilty of abetting crimes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Austin

Anyway, I believe Austin leaked some memos from the California AntiTerrorism Information Center CATIC. These weren't that tightly controlled, and were just a weekly email advisory sent to a lot of police departments about the latest terrorism junk that they had 'intelligence' on.
What was interesting is that the lazy staff generating this stuff seemed to be doing google searches or daily browsing of news aggregators, and they were listing ANSWER marches or indybay announcements by the typical crazies and sectsputting their stuff on the calendar. In other words, they didn't have their thumb on the pulse.
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