Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Berkeley police slammed for Antifa-related mugshot tweets after violent rally
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| Berkeley Police announced the arrests on Sunday of three protesters on weapon possession charges: (left to right) Jason Wallach, 41, Kate Brenner, 69, and Kristen Edith Koster, 50. (Berkeley Police Department ) |
Several California professors slammed the Berkeley Police Department after it posted the mugshots of Antifa protesters arrested Sunday at a rally where windows were smashed, citizens were punched and "dozens of weapons" were confiscated by cops.
Berkeley cops said Sunday that 20 people were arrested demonstrating against a rally organized by so-called "alt-right" groups. The mugshots of those arrested, their names and what they were arrested for allegedly doing was posted to the BPD's Twitter account -- a practice that is not unusual. The mugshots were posted before the protesters were formally charged. The department told The Guardian on Monday that the protesters' cases were not rought before prosecutors.
Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California, said she found it “disturbing” that the police department would post the mugshots and risk the possibility of putting the demonstrators in danger.
“This is very disturbing,” Dubal told The Guardian. “It seems like a public-shaming exercise, which is not the role of the police department...They are making it really accessible for folks who might wish these people harm to locate them.”
Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín said the police “did a very good job” handling the rally. But he said he spoke to police about the posting of mugshots on social media.
“We need to look into this and discuss whether this is an appropriate practice going forward,” Arreguín said.
The Sunday protest began after two groups of "alt-right" protesters announced plans for a "No to Marxism" rally at the city's Civic Center Park earlier in the week. That prompted plans for a "Sweep Out The Fascists" march and counter-rally that drew hundreds of people downtown.
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| Arrested protesters Ericka Sokolower-Shain, left, and Jamie Hill. (Berkeley Police ) |
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| Arrested protesters David Chou, left, and Freddy Martinez. (Berkeley Police) |
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| Arrested protesters Maria Lewis, left, and Thomas Parker. (Berkeley Police) |
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| Arrested protesters Bella Podolsky, left, and Javier Cruz-O'Connell. (Berkeley Police) |
Videos taken during the protest also showed masked Antifa protesters smashing the windows of a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office and another demonstrator sucker-punching someone.
But Jay Kim, the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild local chapter, said he felt police were targeting “anti-fascist protesters.”
“It really seemed to us like the Berkeley police department was there to…target the anti-fascist protesters,” Kim said.
Kim said about 21 people contacted the NLG regarding the arrests, claiming the “vast majority” arrested were anti-fascist protesters.
Byron White, a spokesman for the Berkeley Police Department, defended the release of the mugshots.
“People are coming from out of town and bringing weapons and are committed to violence…We don’t want people to be able to...
CONSCIENCE. CHARACTER. COURAGE. Tommy Robinson's story.
Clearly, there were people high up in the system who were out to get him. To put the country's most outspoken critic of Islam in a hoosegow where he'd be surrounded by Muslims and, with any luck, would end up being found dead in his cell of unknown causes.
What was it, exactly, that drove Tommy to activism? Well, to begin with, his hometown, Luton, where he still lives, was a place where he had friends, white and black and brown, from a wide range of backgrounds – but where one tight-knit group, namely Muslims, seemed to hold all the cards, standing apart from (and above) all the others, refusing to blend in, treating the kafir with arrogance and contempt.
While professing to be exceedingly devout – and demanding, for this reason, that special allowances be made to accommodate their religious practices and prohibitions – the Muslim community leaders ran drug and prostitution rings, raped non-Muslim girls as casually as if they were consuming a kebab, and expertly manipulated pusillanimous government authorities who were not only terrified to arrest them for even the most bloodcurdling infraction but who were, on the contrary, eager to throw money at them, with a smile and a bow, in response to their “piss-and-moan stories about deprivation and prejudice.” This, then, was the environment in which Tommy grew up.
Then came 9/11. It horrified him. On the first anniversary of 9/11, while the terrorist organization Al Muhajiroun was holding a conference in London to celebrate the hijackers, posters were put up all over Luton glorifying the so-called “Magnificent 19.” The authorities did nothing about any of this. He was appalled. Two years later, a group of Luton Muslims stated in a national media interview that they looked forward to a 9/11 in Britain; their leader, Sayful Islam, made it clear that he “wanted to see our children assassinated, executed.”
The cops didn't even call them in for questioning. As Tommy writes, “here was the great British public, sitting around listening to it, giving him [Sayful Islam] a public platform and doing nothing about it.” What set Tommy apart from the rest of the British public was one thing: “I had to do something.” But what? What to do? After the 2004 massacre of schoolchildren in...
Iraqi immigrant accused of shooting Colorado cop has criminal history, yet avoided deportation, report says
Karrar Al Khammasi, 31, missed his Friday court appearance after he was hospitalized following a shootout with officers in Colorado Springs. Al Khammasi is accused of shooting Colorado Springs Officer Cem Duzel in the head early Thursday morning, leaving the cop in critical but stable condition as of Saturday.
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Before Thursday’s shooting, Al Khammasi was known to immigration enforcement officials due to his nine prior contacts with police, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.
Karrar Noaman Al Khammasi, 31, is accused of shooting Colorado Springs officer Cem Duzel. (AP)
His first incident was in 2013, when he was charged with drunken driving. About a month later, Al Khammasi was charged with criminal extortion where investigators believe he threatened a man and his family and set a car on fire.
Court records stated Al Khammasi was sentenced to...
Another Reason To Never Watch The NFL Again: NFL's first male dancers will hit the sidelines this season
NFL fans will see history made this season, and it has nothing to do with what goes on between the goalposts.
The Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints will have male cheerleaders dancing on their squads for the first time.
Dancers Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies have been preparing for the NFL season since they made the Rams cheerleading squad in March.
"Still can't believe I'm one of the first males in history to be a pro NFL cheerleader!" Jinnies tweeted after being selected.
Other teams, like the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens, have stuntmen, USA Today reported, but Peron and Jinnies will be dancing alongside their female teammates and doing the same moves.
He told CNN affiliate KATC that his mom sent him a link with their story.
"She told me it was my time to shine," he said in a video posted before his final audition.
"The process has been great, everyone has been really nice to me and I can't wait to see ...
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #341
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
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