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Brooklyn teens held a protest Monday night -- that some reports say broke into a riot -- in response to the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Kimani Gray by NYPD officers, reports the Daily Mail.

The 16-year-old boy was hanging out with friends Saturday night when they were approached by undercover officers who allegedly asked him to show his hands. Authorities claim that it was only after Gray suspiciously reached for his waistband that an officer fired 11 rounds.

According to The Gothamist, “Gray was shot multiple times in the leg and stomach when he pointed a .357 revolver at the cops in East Flatbush just before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. ‘The cops, they just jumped out of the car so fast, witness Devonte Brown said. ‘They started shooting him and he went down, he was bleeding, holding his side, screaming, ‘stop, stop,’ Brown said of Gray.”

Via Gawker:

"After the anti-crime sergeant and police officer told the suspect to show his hands, which was heard by witnesses, Gray produced a revolver and pointed it at the officers, who fired a total of 11 rounds, striking Gray several times," Paul J. Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman, told the New York Times.

But as Think Progress notes, eyewitness accounts differ from the official police reports. One witness, Camille Johnson, told Pix 11 that Gray was "running for his life, telling the cops 'Stop.'" She went on, telling the news station,"They really are, seriously shooting little kids."

According to the Times, another witness told Gray's sister, Mahnefeh, that Gray was fixing his belt, not reaching for a gun, when he was shot. Mahnefeh, as well as Gray's mother, insisted that Gray didn't own a gun and that, even if he did, he would not have pointed it at police, telling the Wall Street Journal, "He has common sense...They killed my little brother for no reason."

Another witness, who lives across the street from where the shooting took place, told the Times that Gray pleaded with the officers, telling them, "Please don't let me die." The police reportedly responded by telling the wounded 16-year-old, "Stay down or we'll shoot you again."

According to NBC New York, there were roughly 70 protesters who marched to the 67th Precinct station in East Flatbush and threw garbage and empty bottles at the windows. No police were injured, and there were no damages to the building during the protest.

"Some angry kids were protesting the death of a friend," said witness Martin Williams. "They were marching through the street, yelling and protesting."

The protesters continued to march from Snyder Avenue and ended up at Church and East 57th Street where the protest continued. There were police in riot gear along the block with barricades, but there were no reports of arrests.

The two NYPD officers who shot Kimani Gray have been placed on administrative duty.

The video above shows police as they close in on Occupy San Francisco protesters on Saturday, but San Francisco police say what may not be widely available on video is the protesters' actions beforehand.

"The protesters threw zip-locked bags of paint, some contained bags of rocks," said San Francisco police spokesman Gordon Shy. "There was definitely intent to injure."

In the video, San Francisco police arrest protesters on California and Battery streets. It was shot by Jacob Crawford, a filmmaker who documents police action. The group was protesting the war in Afghanistan as it marks 11 years of bombs and bloodshed.

"The cops were hitting people with batons and shoving batons into people and slamming people around," Crawford said.

San Francisco police admit there were "a few incidents" in which officers used batons or police holds to make arrests.

Via:

Police circled and detained the protestors in the roadway at California and Battery streets, and the protestors allegedly threw flares and bags of paint at officers, some of which contained rocks.

Some protestors also fled to Pine and Sansome streets, and were detained there.

In total, police made 22 arrests, on charges including conspiracy, riot, refusing to obey a lawful order from a peace officer and resisting delaying and obstructing a police officer, and assault and battery on a police officer.

Searches of the protestors' backpacks turned up items including hammers, an ice pick, flares and other weapons and bags of paint containing rocks.

No word yet on injured protesters, or if those arrested have been released from jail yet. Updates as they become available.

Thom Hartmann explains the simple reason why citizens in Libya and Egypt are rioting - people don't riot when times are good, they only riot when they're pushed. Wednesday evening's "Lone Liberal Rumble" panel discusses day three of the Chicago teachers strike, Romney's latest lie/flip-flop and whether we're headed for another credit downgrade thanks to the Tea Party. In the "Daily Take" Thom looks at how privatizing our country's prisons are not only costing taxpayers more money, but are drastically increasing the number of people incarcerated.

This Youtube video has good footage of the damage as a result of the July 18, 2012 riot at the Maruti Suzuki plant in India, but it is a continuous loop of the same images for over 6 minutes.

Outsourcing to cheap foreign labor may have to eventually become a thing of the past as now auto workers in India have resorted to deadly violence in their desperate efforts to have India's outdated labor laws overhauled, and their wages increased.

Reuters reports:

Hiding in his office near New Delhi as workers armed with iron bars and car parts rampaged through the factory, Maruti Suzuki(MRTI.NS) supervisor Raj Kumar spent two terrified hours trying to comprehend the warzone his workplace had become.

By the end of the day, one of his colleagues had been burnt to death and dozens wounded, many with broken bones, as a long-running struggle between the shop floor and management exploded at a factory racked by mistrust.

While police investigate and the carmaker counts its mounting losses, the July 18 clash has rattled corporate India and shone a light on outdated and rigid labour laws in a country where cheap labour drives manufacturing and draws foreign investment. High inflation, a shortage of skilled labour and rising aspirations have emboldened workers' demands.

"There was always a strong sense of unease," Kumar, 43, told Reuters as he stood outside the locked factory gates more than a week after the riot in the industrial town of Manesar.

"We are living in fear... The kind of violence these guys showed was unbelievable."

Hyundai and Honda plants located in India have also seen labour unrest in their plants as some labor laws date as far back as 1920.

Since July's rioting, Maruti Suzuki has remained on shut down, with its some 2,500 workers in hiding fearing punishment from the company, criminal charges or both.

Troubles for Maruti began as far back as 2000, when workers hunger-striked for better wages. The best and highest paid manufacturing workers in the area are paid 25,000 rupees a month, the equivalent of just $445.79 in U.S. currency.

More videos surfaced online on Sunday of the LAPD violence at Thursday’s Downtown LA Art Walk.

Many helicopters hover above the streets. Full riot gear was worn by some officers during the ordeal. Rubber bullets and other projectiles were in use. The police were very aggressive. All this over chalk painting on the sidewalk?

In the video above at 4:49, you can see a man in a white t-shirt shot at very close range with a projectile weapon. He falls to the ground and is clearly incapacitated. After the man stumbles to the ground, two Occupiers come to his aid but police move in, chase the occupiers off, 14 officers surround the man, while one officers kicks the man in the face, then other officers smash his face into the pavement, and violently arrested him.

This next video shows the incident from ground level:

Continue reading »

This video is from Union Square Park this week as the NYPD forced Occupy Wall Street protesters out of the park area after declaring it closed for the night for "cleaning."

Were these cops ordered to attempt to incite a riot with their repeating "They're throwing glass bottles! They want to hurt us, guys!" ? Was it a training exercise of some sort? All of these officers appear quite young, and perhaps are new to the force, so an "on-the-job-training" exercise seems possible.

The occupier speaking during this altercation claims that there was a bottle thrown, but that it was tossed by an undercover cop planted in the crowd.

An Occupy Wall Street protester says police gave demonstrators little warning before kicking them out of a New York City park overnight and that officers beat many of them during the arrests.

After NYPD raided Zuccotti Park on March 17 2012, about 100 people were arrested. Among them a young girl suffering a seizure and panic attack as she was being brought to the bus. The cops not only handle the situation wrongly, carrying her by the head as she's seizing, it also takes 17 minutes until professional help arrives. Protester standing outside the barricades had to make the 911 call to get EMT to come .

The videos above apparently show occupy activist Cecily McMillian, who was once profiled in Rolling Stone Magazine. Initial reports from the scene indicate that police broke her ribs; and just as troublesome, were further reports that police denied McMillian access to the outside world while in the hospital early Sunday morning. She apparently was denied a phone call to her lawyer or doctor, as well as access to her friends who had followed her to the hospital.

Continue reading »

With the recent news of occupiers being removed from a Greyhound bus to the arrest of the chalking culprit, martyrdom is knocking on the door of many occupy protestors. On Friday the 13th, I participated in the Occupy LA foreclosure action in downtown with no arrests or major confrontations (except for one guy who was really angry about not being able to enter his bank). There was plenty of media coverage, which is why I suspect there was no overt police harassment.

The night before when there were no cameras or media during a demonstration at LA Art Walk, the police seemed to be extremely aggressive and arrested a protestor who stepped onto the street momentarily. The protester was charged with "lynching," according to attorney Sue Basko. At least one other protester was detained, and it is not yet clear if that person was arrested or released. The video above was posted on YouTube, claiming to capture the moments before the lynching arrest.

Sue Basko, an attorney who blogged about the incident on Occupy LA website, had this to say:

From what I can gather from written accounts and a video, this is what happened: The sidewalks were very crowded. A drummer named Adam stepped into the street to walk around a car. Police swarmed him to arrest him. The police recognized Sergio and cherry-picked him. Sergio and his girlfriend were thrown to the ground. Sergio had just appeared a few days prior on a major mainstream media news talk show, speaking eloquently on behalf of his experiences in the Occupy movement. CLICK TO VIEW. Sergio was arrested and charged with lynching.

The lynching violation is CA Penal Code 405a: Lynching: “The taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer is a lynching.”

The judge in re Anthony J., 1999 cites Jones and states:

Under California law, “lynching” includes not only the notorious form of lynch mob behavior that aims to take vengeance on the victim, but also any participation in riotous conduct aimed at freeing a person from the custody of a peace officer. Accordingly, we conclude that a person who takes part in a riot leading to his escape from custody can be convicted of his own lynching.

[Emphasis mine.]

California has a history of people being charged with their own lynching. In 2009, a Modesto DA said that lynching was “a tremendous sign of disrespect to the law enforcement community.”

Professor Chris Waldrep, who's written several books on lynching, said the definition of lynching varies from state to state, and doesn't always involve racial violence. Most lynching laws have two common elements: "There's an unruly crowd, and the act committed is an affront or insult to law enforcement," said Waldrep.

Lynching is also a felony charge with a 2 – 4 year sentence.