The hackers collective and Activists, Anonymous today brought down the Oakland Police Department website after police lobbed tear gas shells against a alleged non-violent demonstration protesters in Berkeley.
The verdict in the Ferguson shooting case in which the jury acquitted the police officers of any wrongdoing and the subsequent acquittal of the police officers in the killing of 38 year old Eric Garner added to the killing of teenager, Tamir Rice have caused nationwide protests in United States. With the protests entering its fifth day and more and more people joining the protest march, yesterday, police personnel allegedly lobbed tear gas shells against protesters in Berkley.
The Anonymous in a counter offensive against the Oakland Police Department downed their website.
https://twitter.com/DigitaShadow/status/541840443923648512
Anonymous say that the protests were non-violent and the police acted arbitrarily in tear gassing the protesters, however the police claim that they deployed tear gas in response to be targeted with what they called “explosives.”
However the nationwide protests against the recent police killings of two black men have been far from non violent. Mashable reported that on the second day of the protests there were many incidents of arson in the West Coast. ” In a second night of protests on Sunday, multiple injuries and arrests have been made in Oakland and Berkley. Acts of vandalism and rock-throwing by rioters started to take place as splinter groups broke off from the original peaceful march. Someone smashed a window of a local Radio Shack store, which escalated the situation.”
Berkeley: Windows smashed, demonstrators throw rocks as protests turn violent https://t.co/KqWrqVXVRB https://t.co/x9t1rVChAE
— Amanda Wills (@AmandaWills) December 8, 2014
Anonymous on their part have released a video which they claim has been shot on the frontline between the protesters and the police which they claim shows the heavy handiness of the Oakland Police Department.
The #ICantBreathe campaign has been trending on Twitter since yesterday as more and more people join the protests. The protesters got their #ICantBreathe  war cry after a video was released online which showed that Garner, who was killed in reported police action, falling to ground and repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe”.
#Berkeley #ICantBreathe RT @LeftSentThis: At least a thousand people are marching down Telegraph towards the campus. pic.twitter.com/rv0VHyOFBC
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) December 8, 2014
UPDATE: Police set up barricades in #Berkeley to block protesters that try to enter the police station #BlackLivesMatter
— Ruptly Stringer (@RuptlyStringer) December 8, 2014
The Garner decision came shortly after a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer in the death of Michael Brown, 18, who was shot multiple times following a confrontation with police in Ferguson, Missouri despite being unarmed.
