California riots over police shooting of black man
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Jul 9, 2010, 5:08:40 PM7/9/10
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Perilous Times
California riots over police shooting of black man
* From: AFP
* July 10, 2010 2:55AM
POLICE have clashed with protesters who looted businesses and smashed windows in Oakland, California, after a white policeman who shot a black man in the back was convicted on a lesser charge of killing an unarmed man.
Several hundred people initially gathered peacefully on Thursday in downtown Oakland, a city east of San Francisco, to protest against the involuntary manslaughter ruling against Johannes Mehserle, the lesser charge that fueled concerns of unrest over the racially polarising case.
Prosecutors had sought more severe murder charges against Mehserle, 28, for shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant in the back as he lay face-down at a transit station on New Year's Day in 2009 - a killing bystanders caught on tape.
After night fell, brief riots broke out between police and a small group of protesters, who were quickly subdued by police.
After a short lull, some protesters broke into a Foot Locker sportswear store and took items under applause from participants.
Looters were seen distributing shoes and t-shirts to the crowd before police stopped several dozen people.
A jewellery store was ransacked and several other businesses were damaged, while trash cans were set on fire and protesters threw rocks at a police car.
By 11pm on Thursday (1600 AEST Friday), the crowd had not yet fully dispersed and police reinforcements arrived from San Francisco and other nearby cities, according to the Oakland Tribune, as the Grant family's lawyer,
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urged calm.
Mehserle, who was a police officer with the Bay Area Rapid Transit association, has said he had meant to draw and fire his Taser electroshock gun, not his gun.
Mr Grant's death had prompted unrest immediately following the incident, with about 100 people arrested in the wake of one of the riots.
Mehserle is due for sentencing on August 6.
California riots over police shooting of black man
* From: AFP
* July 10, 2010 2:55AM
POLICE have clashed with protesters who looted businesses and smashed windows in Oakland, California, after a white policeman who shot a black man in the back was convicted on a lesser charge of killing an unarmed man.
Several hundred people initially gathered peacefully on Thursday in downtown Oakland, a city east of San Francisco, to protest against the involuntary manslaughter ruling against Johannes Mehserle, the lesser charge that fueled concerns of unrest over the racially polarising case.
Prosecutors had sought more severe murder charges against Mehserle, 28, for shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant in the back as he lay face-down at a transit station on New Year's Day in 2009 - a killing bystanders caught on tape.
After night fell, brief riots broke out between police and a small group of protesters, who were quickly subdued by police.
After a short lull, some protesters broke into a Foot Locker sportswear store and took items under applause from participants.
Looters were seen distributing shoes and t-shirts to the crowd before police stopped several dozen people.
A jewellery store was ransacked and several other businesses were damaged, while trash cans were set on fire and protesters threw rocks at a police car.
By 11pm on Thursday (1600 AEST Friday), the crowd had not yet fully dispersed and police reinforcements arrived from San Francisco and other nearby cities, according to the Oakland Tribune, as the Grant family's lawyer,
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urged calm.
Mehserle, who was a police officer with the Bay Area Rapid Transit association, has said he had meant to draw and fire his Taser electroshock gun, not his gun.
Mr Grant's death had prompted unrest immediately following the incident, with about 100 people arrested in the wake of one of the riots.
Mehserle is due for sentencing on August 6.
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