Cops Kill Homeless Man for Resisting Arrest

By Nicole Fabian-Weber
July 27, 2011

Kelly Thomas was a 37-year-old homeless man, who also happened to suffer from schizophrenia, living in Fullerton, California. When police in the area received word that somebody was breaking into cars near the town's bus station, Thomas caught their attention.

Officers approached Thomas in the bus depot, where he presumably lived, and tried to arrest him; Thomas supposedly resisted. The cops proceeded to Tase and beat him so badly that he was placed on life support, only to die three days later.

The problem with this whole mess, other than the fact that a man was beaten to death, is that a student nearby actually filmed the whole thing. And Thomas wasn't resisting arrest at all. He was actually crying out for his dad.

Mark Turgeon, the man who caught everything on tape, described Thomas as peaceful during his arrest. He said, "They kept beating him and Tasering him [when] he wasn't even moving." There are some people in the town who felt Thomas was scary and prone to yelling, but the majority of people paint him as a "very quiet and polite" man. I never met Thomas personally, but judging by the tape, I think I would probably agree with his description as peaceful.

The thing is, even if Thomas wasn't a peaceful man, even if he was violently resisting arrest, does that give police officers the right to kill him? There is no report of him having a weapon, so their lives clearly weren't in danger. These cops, who are staying mum on the incident, essentially gave a man the death penalty for failing to cooperate. If you want to see the really disturbing photo of what Thomas looked like, you can click here. Warning, though, really disturbing.

Police officers who treat anyone this way -- much less someone who is mentally ill and obviously needs help -- should have their badges taken away. They shouldn't be allowed to walk around with guns. This is no way to enforce the law or protect the citizens of their town. It's simply a way for them to get out their own anger. They are way more dangerous than Kelly Thomas ever could have been.

Wife: Why Did Aurora Police Kill Father Of 3?

Police Say Plain Clothes Officers Had Altercation With Extortion Suspect

Alan Gathright, 7NEWS Content Producer

AURORA, Colo. -- The wife of a 59-year-old Aurora father of three is asking why he was shot and killed by an Aurora police officer Saturday night.

“He is the best father and husband," Margarita Guizar, Juan Contreras’ wife, said Sunday.

“I want to know what happened with him? Why (did) he have three shots?" asked Guizar, who sobbed while speaking with 7NEWS reporter Christine Chang.

“He said, 'I want to go to the Dollar Store,'" she said. "He went and never came back.”

According to police radio reports on Saturday night, a woman lost her keys in the parking lot of a King Soopers store. She returned to her car and found a note that said someone had her keys and to call a number, according to radio reports. When she called the number, the man on the other end told her if she wanted her keys back, she would have to pay $50, officers on the radio said. The woman called police and a police officer called the man to arrange a meetup, according to radio reports.

Aurora police Detective Bob Friel would not confirm the radio reports but said the shooting happened when plain clothes officers investigating an extortion case were led to the Family Dollar store parking lot at 12100 East Colfax Ave.

“At some point, there was a physical altercation between the officer and what we believe is the extortion suspect," Friel said Saturday night. “The officer did fire several rounds, striking the suspect.”

Paramedics took the wounded man to the hospital where he died.

Authorities have not identified the man killed in the shooting, but Guizar confirmed it was her husband.

A knife was recovered at the scene, but Friel would not elaborate on the role it played, if at all, in the altercation.

“I don’t know where the knife was at. All I can tell you is that we recovered a knife from this crime scene," Friel said.

Friel said he did not know if the officer involved sustained any injuries.

Fernando Soltero works at the O'Reilly Auto Parts store that shares the parking lot with Family Dollar. He told 7NEWS what he heard outside shortly after 7:30 p.m.

"(I) just heard three pops. I thought it was a backfire because obviously I work on vehicles and what-not. And shortly thereafter, a lady came in saying somebody dial 911," said Soltero.

Soltero went outside and saw a man bleeding from inside a Jeep in the parking lot.

“All I could see was blood on his left armpit and up towards his chest and that’s about it," said Soltero.

The strike continues! Mobilize to CDCR!

As many of you have heard, the Short Corridor Collective at Pelican Bay have ended their hunger strike and have declared it a success! Their courageous act of refusing to eat for 4 weeks has successfully put the issues of torturous isolation units and California's abominable debriefing program in the international & national media, it has boosted a growing movement for the rights of prisoners, and is unifying prisoners of different racial groups for a struggle against their real and shared enemies: the unfair policies and practices of CDCR. Many of you also know that the hunger strike continues in Tehachapi, Corcoran, and Calipatria State Prisons. We must continue to put pressure on CDCR and Governor Jerry Brown! On Monday, 7/25 from noon-4pm in Sacramento, family members, community based organizations, and community members from around the state are mobilizing to support the ongoing California Prisoner Hunger Strike! Meet in Sacramento at Fremont Park (on 15th St., b/w Q & P Streets) @ 11:30am. March to CDCR headquarters (1515 S. Street) and rally from noon-2pm. March to State Building to deliver organizational letter to Governor Jerry Brown's office from 2-4pm. *Please note that this will be a PEACEFUL, non-arrestable action. Please take the time to forward this email to all of your contacts, and continue to call CDCR and Governor Brown demanding more humane treatment of prisoners across California. For more information, please check the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Blog or call (510) 444-0484.

BAY AREA Ride-share: Meet at West Oakland BART at 9:30am, rides will be leaving at 10am. If you have a car & want to offer rides, or if you need a ride, please contact Lisa Roellig: lisaroellig@gmail.com 415-238-1801 (cell). Thank you for your continued support! In Struggle, Lisa Marie Alatorre for Critical Resistance

Police Kill Shoplifting Suspect In Crowded Walmart Lot

From corporate media.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Customers are waiting to return to a parking lot Friday to retrieve their cars where police shot and killed a shoplifting suspect at the Walmart in Federal Way [outside Seattle] Thursday, [July 21].

The shooting happened at the store on South 314th Street in the parking lot that was crowded with shoppers. Police said the store's loss prevention officers were following a man they spotted shoplifting inside the store at about 5:30 p.m. and called officers. When the man came outside and officers approached him, the man fled, police said.

A short distance later, police said, the man turned around and reached down to what appeared to be an ankle holster. Police said the officers spotted a gun in the holster and shot the man at about 6 p.m. A gun was recovered from the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

“An officer was just shooting, nine or 10 times. The guy was on the ground. There were cars in the way for me to see the person. He was standing over the top shooting,” said witness Tim Loucks.

“I was scared. I went blank for a while and then my mom took me back inside. Then we found we couldn’t get to our car because they blocked off the whole parking lot,” said Ebony McNeil.

Police detained hundreds of shoppers who were in the store or the parking lot when the shooting erupted. Officers said they wanted to interview all the potential witnesses, and some were stranded for hours.

"I was taking pictures with my baby and we were getting ready to leave and go to what we thought was bowling, but we can't now, we had to leave our car and hopefully have someone come pick us up,” said shopper Remeikca Munroe.

The officer who shot the suspected shoplifter is on administrative leave. Kent police are investigating the shooting. Police did not yet know the man’s identity on Thursday.

'Up to 100' in latest Christmas Island riots

From corporate media.

The [Australian] Immigration Department says up to 100 people armed with makeshift weapons may have been involved in the latest riot at the Christmas Island Detention Centre overnight.

Between 30 and 40 people were directly involved in the protest, which involved lighting fires at the centre.

The incident was brought to a halt by federal police, but the department said the perimeter fence was not breached.

Detainees set fire to furniture and rubbish bins and destroyed fences and gates, Social Justice Network spokesman Jamal Daoud said.

Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, said earlier he had been informed by an asylum seeker that detainees barricaded themselves inside the detention centre's Gold compound.

"The mostly Iranian asylum seekers have said they will commit mass self harm or even suicide if the federal police try to break into the compound to force an end to the protest," he said.

At the centre's Green compound, detainees had dug shallow graves in the courtyard, Mr Rintoul said.

"Some asylum seekers have already staged mock burials and buried themselves up to their necks in a symbolic protest that detention is killing their bodies and their minds."

The Department said any person convicted in relation to the incident could have their visa application refused on character grounds.

Cobb Police Kill Man at Terrell Mill Complex

July 20, 2011

Cobb County police officers killed a Marietta, [Georgia], man Wednesday afternoon after a brief standoff in an apartment complex off Terrell Mill Road.

Eric Dewayne Moon Jr., 23, died in the apartment at 3500 Windcliff Dr. in the Lincoln Hills complex after officers opened fire “in fear of serious bodily injury or death,” police Sgt. Dana Pierce said in a news release issued early Thursday.

The fatal shooting followed a failed traffic, a single-vehicle crash and a brief search, according to the police narrative.

Two uniformed officers in a marked patrol car from East Cobb’s Precinct 4 tried to stop a silver 1999 Chevrolet Lumina just before 4 p.m. on Terrell Mill Road by Lincoln Hills, which is west of Interstate 75, Pierce reported.

The apartment complex is in an unincorporated area of Cobb County bordered to the west, north and east by the city of Marietta.

The driver of the Lumina did not stop and instead drove into Lincoln Hills, police said. Just past the entrance gate, the car hit a tree and a stop sign, then rolled over.

The driver ran deeper into the complex to the 1900 building, Pierce reported.

Officers found the apartment where the driver was hiding in a few minutes, police said, and they began a room-by-room search.

Moon was barricaded inside a bedroom closet, Pierce said in the statement.

Moon refused to surrender, and his actions and threats led the officers to shoot him, Pierce said. He did not say whether Moon had a gun.

The dead man did not live at Lincoln Hills but spent a lot of time there, family members told WSB-TV.

At least one officer was placed on administrative leave after the shooting, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

The police Internal Affairs Unit and the Crimes Against Persons Unit are investigating the shooting. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 770-499-3945.

Notes Concerning Recent Actions against the Police [in San Francisco]

From Indybay.

On Tuesday July 19th, hundreds of people took to the streets of San Francisco in order to demonstrate their rage against the recent murders of Charles Hill and Kenneth Harding in the city by BART police and SFPD respectively. We marched behind a banner reading “they can’t shoot us all; fuck the police” as an expression of our intention that police murder will be met with resistance and retaliation every time they rear their ugly heads in our city.

IT DEFINITELY WENT DOWN:

The march began at Dolores Park where nearly 200 of us departed and began moving towards the Castro. The route followed MUNI rail lines, obstructing the functioning of the rail system as it proceeded. Upon reaching the Castro MUNI station, all hell broke loose. While approaching the intersection (home to the underground MUNI station as well as the crossing of several MUNI rail lines) a significant portion of the march had donned masks and hoods. What had now become a mob moved effortlessly past the bewildered cops and descended into the station. Down below on the mezzanine level, trash was set alight and thrown down onto the tracks below, followed by advertisements and signs. The ticket machines, the fare checkpoints and the agent booth were all smashed with hammers and flags – totally ruined. Smokebombs and fireworks were thrown throughout the station, adding to the chaos as the group resurfaced. The march then moved back through the Castro, hurling bricks over the heads of riot police and through the windows of Bank of America before heading into the Mission.

Those at the front of the march, made the spontaneous decision to continue onwards to the Mission police station on Valencia street. As the march approached, the pigs moved into formation to protect their sty. This didn’t stop us from throwing flares, a paint bomb, and a hammer at the façade of the building and at its defenders. The crowd, now swelled to almost 300, stayed in front of the police station for a while, screaming in the faces of the scum that patrols our streets and kills and imprisons the people we love. After making it abundantly clear that we wanted them the fuck out of our neighborhood, we continued through the Mission . At this point, the march dwindled slightly but continued down Mission St. Things escalated again when CBS news began harassing the crowd. People grabbed the big ass camera and smashed it on the ground. Police moved to make an arrest, but were repelled by the stick-wielding crowd.

After leaving the Mission, the crowd took Market St. and began moving through downtown toward Civic Center Station (the site of Charles Hill’s murder) and then onto Powell Station. At this point the number swelled again to more than they had been at any point, as countless onlookers joined the anti-cop demonstration. The crowd was big enough to block both sides of Market (a rare occurrence). The police began issuing dispersal orders from their sound truck tailing the march. Not giving a fuck, however, hundreds of us drowned out their orders screaming “SHUT THE FUCK UP” over and over. As the march turned up Powell (where we had intended to disperse) riot cops were able to surround and kettle about 30 people. As they filled in to enforce their kettle, hundreds of people pushed against them, hurling projectiles and screaming at them to let them go (and die). Skirmishes broke out as a handful of friends were unarrested and several more attempts were made to free those trapped inside police lines.

When it became clear that it would be impossible to free the 30 or so friends caught by the police, the strategy shifted to outright fighting. As the police began moving the vans containing the arrested, our crews and others did everything we could to stop them. The vans were chased and blockades attempted. The police and their vehicles were pelted with rocks, bottles, D-batteries and whatever else could be thrown against them. All-out brawls broke out leading to police injuries and a handful of arrests. Several police motorcycles were knocked over and stomped on. The night ended with a tense standoff against police. At this point, hundreds of people from the surrounding area had flooded the scene, screaming at the police or just looking on in awe. More shit got thrown at them and eventually people left, as we had word that several of the arrested were already being released.

It is the humble opinion of these participants that this last round of events was marked by some of the most wild physical fights with police at a demo in a long time. By the end of the night, all but one of the arrested had been released with misdemeanors (for disobeying orders and/or battery). One person remains in jail, being charged with Felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Felony Vandalism. (Updates soon)

RESISTANCE IS SPREADING:

Yesterday’s attacks come in the context of a growing campaign of diffuse attacks against the MUNI system in retaliation for the murder of Kenneth Harding. On Saturday, within moments of his murder, people on scene began attacking the police with bottles and trying to disrupt the T-train. In the subsequent days various crews of people in and around Bayview have spontaneously and diffusely taken up a campaign against the MUNI system: blocking tracks, breaking the windows on trains and busses, attacking agents, fighting with the police. Most of this resistance, of course, has gone unreported by the scum media. At a press-conference held in Bayview on Monday, many family-members of police victims and other angry people gathered to denounce the most recent murders, share stories about how much they fucking hate the pigs, and articulate a strategy of resistance.

The message at the conference and in people’s actions is clear: “We want pigs off the MUNI system and we want the system to be free, or there will not be a system at all.” People vowed to continue their attacks and blockades against the trains and buses operated by MUNI until they are fare-free and cop-free. As austerity takes its toll on poor people in the Bay Area, it is becoming increasingly clear that the only solution is attack, and that these attacks are the clearest way to demonstrate our solidarity.

It is in following the lead of those struggling for freedom in Bayview that we decided to trash the MUNI station in the Castro. This is only one contribution in what is mounting up to be a wave of chaos against a system that values a 2$ fare over our lives.

SYSTEMIC DISRUPTION AND SABOTAGE:

Last week, over 100 of us disrupted the BART system by blockading trains and vandalizing stations. This activity resulted in 3 hours of solid obstruction and delays through the BART system caused by several station closures. This was called for in response to the killing of Charles Hill on the Civic Center platform by BART police. Once again, we disrupted the transit system in an act of vengeance against the slaughter at the hands of the armed enforcers of fares. Last night, in addition to putting the Castro MUNI station out of commission, we blocked tracks, buses, and trains. Police went on to close at least three BART stations for fear of the destruction at the Castro station being brought on other stations throughout the system. Through our actions and the response of the police, we brought the transit system in the heart of the financial capitol of the West Coast to a grinding halt for the second time in as many weeks.

It should be noted that obstructing these systems and destroying their apparatuses takes very little effort. System disruption is a valuable tool, and should be considered for use as a response every time the pigs murder someone in our towns. The economic damage and the disruption to networks of control caused by these actions is deeper and wider than a brick through a window (however lovely the act may be).

WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PIG LIES:

Fearing full on rebellion, SFPD and their servants in the media have gone into full spin mode. Each day they make new justifications for their killings. They say Charles Hill had a knife. They say Kenneth Harding shot at them. They talk about Harding’s previous convictions and allude to his connection to the murder of a pregnant woman in Washington State. In each of these cases, it is important for the enemies of the police to not be tricked by these diversions.

The issue has never been the character of Kenneth Harding or what type of weapons the victims of police violence may or may not have been carrying. The issue is that the armed enforcers of Capital and the State have enforced a death sentence on the poor in this city; made themselves the judge, jury and executioner of anyone who cannot afford a fare, is homeless, or breaks their meaningless laws in order to survive. We don’t care if Kenneth Harding had a gun. In fact, we wish he had shot the men who went on to shoot him ten times in the back and throat. Any justification for his murder misses the point that the situation should never have happened in the first place. We shouldn’t have to pay for their trains and the cops shouldn’t exist to enforce fares (or anything at all). To blame Kenneth Harding or Charles Hill or any victim of police violence for the atrocities enacted upon them by the police is to side with the State, always. Kenneth Harding is dead for one reason: because officers shot him ten times in the back and throat and watched as he bled to death on the street.

It is also worth noting that the mythology of black male violence against women is consistently used by the police and other armed white people as a pretense for racist murder, whether at the hands of a lynch mob or by the bullets of a cop’s gun. To counter this narrative, and the entirely false idea that police exist to protect women, a feminist contingent within the march prepared a statement and distributed it, denouncing the police.

IN CONCLUSION:

When the police kill in our cities, we need to respond immediately and to continue and escalate that resistance. This has been the case so far in the response to the recent murders in San Francisco. People throughout the city – victims, family members, angry kids, anarchists, communists, hooligans – didn’t wait for the Left or any Non-Profit groups to begin. We acted without hesitation and constraint, in doing so setting the narrative of the struggle against the police. It is important that we not fall into the traps set out by the State. The struggle cannot be limited to one neighborhood or one “Legitimate” series of concerns or any one part of the population. We need to fight against SFPD throughout the city, against BART Police throughout the Bay, and against policing on a global scale. This weeks events have already demonstrated that angry people are willing to act against the police and the system they enforce in their neighborhoods, and to join the struggles of others and act in solidarity through attack. The struggle that began with the Oscar Grant rebellion is just beginning to emerge from hibernation. People here are just beginning – collectively and diffusely - to resist police terror in our streets. This is just a taste.

In sadness and in rage.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
JULY 20, 2011

Oklahoma police kill Arkansas man during high-speed chase

MAYSVILLE, Okla. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a weekend police shooting in Garvin County that left an Arkansas man dead after a high-speed chase.

Maysville Police Chief Adam McMillen told Oklahoma television station KFOR on Tuesday, [July 19], that officers chased a burglary suspect who fled. The suspect rammed a police vehicle, then the man wouldn't drop a knife when ordered to by police after he crashed and left his SUV.

McMillen says 29-year-old Paul Chester of Springdale, Ark., was fatally shot on Saturday by Sgt. Steven Huffman.

Huffman is on paid leave during the investigation.

McMillen says officers tried to use a Taser on Chester, but the shot missed.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the shooting. A prosecutor will decide whether any charges should be filed.

"War on the Pigs": a statement from last night's march against the police.

From Indybay

Yesterday, hundreds of enraged people took to the streets of San Francisco in response to the murder of a 19 year old by SFPD in the Bayview neighborhood. He was killed for running from the police after not paying his MUNI fare. Immediately people in Bayview responded - confronting the police, screaming at the murderers and throwing bottles. At Midnight, another group called for a last minute march against the police. About 100 marchers took the street and attacked ATMs, banks and a cop car.

Whether we like it or not, this city is a fucking war-zone. For the second time in as many weeks, police officers have murdered someone in cold blood. Yesterday, they murdered a 19 year old in the Bayview district. For the crime of not paying his $2 bus fare, he was executed by SFPD; shot ten times in front of a crowd. On July 3rd, BART police responding to a report of a man too drunk to stand, arrived at Civic Center Station and shot Charles Hill within a minute of their arrival, killing him as well. His crime: being broke and homeless in a city that fucking despises us.

And so, within a few hours of hearing word of SFPD's latest atrocity, we called for a march against the police in the Mission District. About 100 of us gathered, donned masks, and marched down Valencia St. toward the Mission Police Station. We attacked the first pig car that approached. We attacked ATMs and a Wells Fargo as well. We upturned newspaper boxes and trash bins, throwing them into the streets at the encroaching riot cops. We screamed in the pigs faces and confronted them at their front door. By 1AM we had dispersed without arrest.

This march comes on the heels of Monday's attack on the BART system in response to the murder of Charles Hill. Again, over 100 of us clogged the BART system, blocking trains, vandalizing machines and bringing the rail system to a grinding halt. For over three hours BART suffered system-wide delays and the BART police were forced to close several stations throughout the city. After being forced out of the system, we took the streets in an impromptu march. Causing havoc and avoiding two attempts by the police to kettle us. The march ended in a heated stand-off with SFPD in front of hundreds of tourists at the Powell St. plaza.

In reporting this we hope to make it obvious: we will no longer allow the police (regardless of what badge they wear) to murder us in the streets. When they kill, we will respond with force. These two marches along with the burgeoning revolt in Bayview are only a beginning. We do not care about their attempts at justifying themselves. In each of these killings they claim that their lives were in danger. We say they lie, but honestly don't care either way. As the State has removed any illusion that it exists to serve or protect people, we can see clearly that it exists only to push us into prisons and to shoot us in cold blood. Two single dollars are worth more to them than our lives. The very existence of the police clearly endangers all of us, and we won't be safe until they are destroyed.

WAR ON THE POLICE
WAR ON THE BART SYSTEM
WAR ON THE MUNI SYSTEM

Stay tuned,

some anarchists in the Bay Area

SFPD Shoot, Kill Alleged Armed Man In Bayview

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco police shot a man in San Francisco's Bayview District early Saturday evening [7/16/2011]. The man died later that evening from his injuries.

The incident occurred around 4:45 p.m. on Third Street and Oakdale Avenue when a 19-year-old man, who was believed to have been carrying a gun, was shot and collapsed on the sidewalk, police said.



A police spokesman said the shooting began after two uniformed officers conducted a fare inspection on a Muni light rail vehicle. They detained the man on the platform, but he fled on foot. During the foot pursuit, police said the suspect fired at the officers, and the officers fired back.

Witnesses had a different story and said police overreacted.As the man was running he had his hands up in the air, and then hit the ground when he was shot, one witness said.

Police maintained that the man had a weapon and they searched the area for the firearm.

One bullet casing lay on the street, and police said it came from a gun that did not belong to the police officers. Police said witnesses could have taken the victim’s weapon when the man collapsed, or the suspect could have thrown the gun somewhere during the pursuit.

The suspect was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and he later died from those injuries at 7 p.m. The officers were not injured.

Within hours of the shooting, an anonymous video popped up on YouTube that showed not only the chaos of the shooting scene, but what the person who posted the video claimed was a silver handgun lying 20-feet from the mortally wounded teenager. In the video, a large crowd that gathered near the scene, along with several police officers who roped off the area. A close look at the lower right corner of the video revealed a shiny object. In the video, a person in a hooded sweatshirt picked it up. Later in the video a person wearing a gray hoodie picked up something that appeared to be a cell phone. Police still haven't found the gun the suspect was said to be firing.

The two police officers involved in the shooting were placed on paid administrative leave following the incident. The shooting is being investigated by the homicide detail, the internal affairs officer-involved shooting, the District Attorney's Office and the Office of Citizen Complaints.

Charles Hill Identified as Man Shot by BART Cops

By Erin Sherbert Thu., Jul. 7 2011

Medical authorities say Charles Hill, 45, was the man who was shot to death over the weekend by BART police.

Hill "had no fixed address," according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office. BART police shot Hill at the Civic Center BART station after getting calls about an apparently drunk man wobbling throughout the station.

A "confrontation" occurred between the officers and Hill, which led to the fatal shooting, according to BART.

While BART Chief Kenton Rainey has defended the shooting, saying Hill was armed with a knife and using his alcohol bottle as a weapon, witnesses have told reporters a much different story.

The Bay Citizen reported yesterday that a witness told the newspaper that Hill, who was wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and army fatigues, wasn't running or "lunging" at the cops. In other words, the shooting didn't seem justified. Rainey said that the officer did have a Taser, but chose not to use it for reasons he cannot yet explain. However, he has said he feels "comfortable" with the way the officers reacted.

BART Deputy Police Chief Daniel Hartwig told reporters last night that the agency might release video surveillance of the shooting as long as it doesn't interfere with the investigation.

Both officers have been placed on administrative leave while the agency and the District Attorney's Office investigates.

Inmate hunger strike expands to more California prisons

Inmates in at least a third of California's prisons are believed to be refusing meals in solidarity with maximum-security prisoners at Pelican Bay.

By Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times

July 6, 2011

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Inmates in at least 11 of California's 33 prisons are refusing meals in solidarity with a hunger strike staged by prisoners in one of the system's special maximum-security units, officials said Tuesday.

The strike began Friday when inmates in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison stopped eating meals in protest of conditions that they contend are cruel and inhumane.

"There are inmates in at least a third of our prisons who are refusing state-issued meals," said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The number of declared strikers at Pelican Bay — reported Saturday as fewer than two dozen — has grown but is changing daily, she said. The same is true at other prisons.

Some inmates are refusing all meals, while others are rejecting only some, Thornton said. Some were eating in visitation rooms and refusing state-issued meals in their cells, she said.

Assessing the number of actual strikers "is very challenging," Thornton said.

Prison medical staff are "making checks of every single inmate who is refusing meals," she said.

More than 400 prisoners at Pelican Bay are believed to be refusing meals, including inmates on the prison's general-population yard, said Molly Poizig, spokeswoman for the Bay Area-based group Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity.

The group had received reports on the strike from lawyers and family members visiting inmates over the weekend, she said.

The group's website claims that prison officials attempted to head off the strike by promoting a Fourth of July menu that included strawberry shortcake and ice cream. According to the website, the wife of a Security Housing Unit inmate said her husband had never had ice cream there and "has never seen a strawberry."

Inmates at Calipatria State Prison — with more than a thousand prisoners — were among those reported to be refusing meals, Poizig said. Prison officials could not be reached for comment.

But Thornton acknowledged that inmates at the prison were refusing to eat state-issued meals.

The strike was organized by Security Housing Unit inmates at Pelican Bay protesting the maximum-security unit's extreme isolation. The inmates are also asking for better food, warmer clothing and to be allowed one phone call a month.

The Security Housing Unit compound, which currently houses 1,100 inmates, is designed to isolate prison-gang members or those who've committed crimes while in prison.

The cells have no windows and are soundproofed to inhibit communication among inmates. The inmates spend 22 1/2 hours a day in their cells, being released only an hour a day to walk around a small area with high concrete walls.

Prisoner advocates have long complained that Security Housing Unit incarceration amounts to torture, often leading to mental illness, because many inmates spend years in the lockup.

Gang investigators believe the special unit reduces the ability of the most predatory inmates, particularly prison-gang leaders, to control those in other prisons as well as gang members on the street.

Prison administrators are meeting with inmate advisory councils to discuss the inmates' complaints, Thornton said.

But "I have not heard there's been any decision" to modify policies governing the Security Housing Unit, she said. "A lot of those policies have been refined through litigation."

Hog Wild: CHP Shoots Unarmed Carrick "Eric" Vigen 55 Times

From the Modesto Anarcho: http://www.modestoanarcho.org/2011/07/hog-wild-chp-shoots-unarmed-carrick.html

Local law enforcement claimed it's latest victim as three CHP officers gunned down and killed an unarmed mentally disturbed man with semiautomatic rifles, shooting him 55 times, several miles south of Modesto, [California].. The shooting happened on Saturday, June 18th, on Crows Landing and West Main.

From the Modesto Bee:

The officers involved were Sgt. Ian Troxell, a 12-year CHP veteran; Jonathan Box, who's been with the agency 3½ years; and Adam Percey, a 2½-year employee, according to Sgt. Anthony Bajaran, a Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department spokesman. The shooting happened within minutes of officers arriving.

According to Vigen's family, Eric had bipolar disorder and was in a manic state before the shooting. He also made comments that he wanted to get into a shootout with the police and that he was armed with a weapon. Thinking that law enforcement could help her son as they had done in the past, Eric's mother called police and told them that he was possibly armed and in need of help. Eric's family was given the murderous details of his untimely death when Sheriffs gave the family their report.

Amadou Diallo

In 1999, New York man Amadou Diallo was shot by NYPD when they stopped him as he was entering his residence. When told to put his hands up, Diallo raised up his wallet as well. Police opened fire and killed the 23-year old Guinean man, shooting him 41 times. His murder and the acquittal of the officers involved kicked off large protests across the New York area. Sean Bell, another unarmed black man, was shot 51 times in 2006 after coming out of bachelor party in Queens, NY. Bell was killed and two others were injured and his murder brought three detectives to trial who were later found not guilty. Like the Diallo case, Bell's killing brought thousands into the streets. Both of these incidents are worth noting because they involve the killing of two unarmed men who were shot a large amount of times by several cops, just as Eric Vigen was. Also, in both of these cases the police were completely exonerated by the 'justice' system. Media coverage on the shooting of Eric has been slim and the Modesto Bee has not even allowed online public commenting on their article. And while Diallo and Bell's murders received national attention, there has hardly been any outrage over Vigen's murder even though he was shot even more times than both of them. It's clear that when the Modesto Bee can't present a story from the side of the police, they don't want to tell it at all.

Direct Action for Freedom of Movement (Tucson and Salt Lake City)

No One Is Illegal - No One is Criminal

“remember those walls you built? / well baby they’re crumbling down
they didn’t even put up a fight / they didn’t even make a sound...”

On Wednesday, June 29th, a group of autonomously organized Tucson community members entered the offices of international private security firm G4S. Organized under the banner Direct Action for Freedom of Movement, the action was meant to demonstrate our opposition to the company’s profiteering off of criminalization of immigrant communities and the expansion of the prison-industrial complex, as well as its’ role in the proliferation of policies such as Arizona’s SB1070 through its’ membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The action was also taken in solidarity with six individuals who locked down at the Border Patrol headquarters in Tucson last summer who were in court at the time of yesterday’s action.

Unfurling banners reading “Prison Profiteers Destroy Communities”, “Take Direct Action to End Border Militarization”, and “Direct Action for Freedom of Movement”, the group attempted to deliver a letter to company representatives before asking for ten seconds of silence to remember those who have been separated from families, died the desert or been locked in cages as a result of militarization and criminalization. After G4S employees refused the accept the letter or honor the ten seconds of silence, the protesters commenced ten minutes of noise, with chants including “No Borders, No Nations, Stop Deportations”.

Although the protesters were never asked to leave the building, and were there only 10 minutes, the Tucson Police cited 16 individuals for criminal trespassing after a two hour detention in a nearby parking lot.

Simultaneously, in Salt Lake City, Utah, dozens of demonstrators protested at the national headquarters of Management and Training Corporation, the third largest private prison company in the country. MTC is a member of ALEC and has given campaign contributions to Arizona Senator Russel Pearce (also an ALEC member), sponsor of SB1070.

Protesters brought the following two demands to the MTC. 1.) Close all their prisons, starting with the Willacy processing center in Raymondville, Texas (the largest immigration facility in the country) 2.) Take the $121 million from their U.S. Government contract and and pay retributions to the the communities that are being impoverished in Mexico by NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement).

Stories of deportation and detention were read loudly in the offices to make the prison profiteers confront the voices that they silence. They were escorted out of the offices but were met by supportive motorists and neighboring business who were more receptive to their message. One passerby stopped and profusely thanked protesters for being there. Protesters carried banners and chanted slogans in opposition to the Prison Industrial Complex and the Border Industrial Complex. Signs read “Borders, No Prisons”, “No one is illegal, No one is criminal”, “Abolish Prisons”, “Management and Training Corporation funds racist legislation” and “Management and Training Corporation (MTC) profits from destroying families.” The protesters read first-hand accounts of deportation and detention, shedding light on the human rights abuses in which Management and Training Corporation is implicated.

As these actions came to an end, so did the trial of the BP6, with a verdict of Not Guilty of disorderly conduct for all defendants. Press releases from the BP6 and organizers of the Tucson and Salt Lake City actions are included below.

Direct Action for Freedom of Movement signals an attempt to better disrupt and expose the corporate interests behind militarization and criminalization. The choice to place the spotlight on G4S and MTC came not only from their role as prison profiteers, but also as a result of their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

ALEC operates as a mechanism for corporate influence on legislation by bringing together business interests and state legislators and drafting “model legislation.” Private sector members include Corrections Corporation of America, GEO Group, G4S, MTC and others with a direct stake in the expansion of the prison-industrial complex. SB1070 was derived from model legislation developed by ALEC and brought back to Arizona by legislative member Russel Pearce. In past decades, ALEC has been involved in the proliferation of policies that led to a dramatic increase in incarceration such as three-strikes laws. Now, as private prison companies look to immigration detention as their opportunity for further profit, ALEC is serving a similar role, pushing policies that further militarization, criminalization, and the expansion of the PIC.

We seek to make clear the connections between prison and border profiteering and the proliferation of state legislation that criminalizes immigrants and funnels them into the jails and detention facilities of the very companies who wrote and lobbied for that legislation. So long as this pattern continues, G4S can expect to see actions like today’s multiply and escalate.

Expect more Direct Action for Freedom of Movement in the future.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.
DAFM.

For more information, please see:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6084/corporate_con_game
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741
www.survivalsolidarity.wordpress.com
http://oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com
http://firesneverextinguished.blogspot.com
http://chaparralrespectsnoborders.blogspot.com

Report from July 2 Noise Demo in Solidarity with Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers

http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/753

On the night of July 2nd, in solidarity with the hunger strikers in Pelican Bay State Prison, CA, a group of roughly 30-35 people equipped with a mobile sound system met in front of the King County Juvenile Detention Center in the Central District of Seattle.

The police response to this demo was large, most likely due to the recent disturbances on Capitol Hill during the Pride weekend. Despite this, the group proceeded to blast music, bang on pots and pans, and make speeches through megaphones in front of the prison cells. At one point, every occupant in the cells along the southern end of the Detention Center was banging on the walls and windows of their cells, responding to the cheers and words from outside.

Instead of the normal oppressive routine of lights-out, the prisoners were able to spend the night acting wild, defying the terrified screws, and listening to the words of rebellion and freedom being blasted from outside. Once night had fallen, a large mortar firework was shot into the air, the green round exploding in the air over the Detention Center.

The event lasted for an hour and there were no arrests.

Towards the destruction of all prisons!

Solidarity with the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers!