2 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Oakland business looted, vehicle set on fire hours after peaceful anti-ICE protest ended
Two businesses in Oakland's Fruitvale district were reeling Wednesday morning after a group of people allegedly looted a shoe store following a peaceful anti-ICE protest Tuesday night. One person was arrested on suspicion of stealing merchandise, police said.
A crowd ransacked a Shiekh shoe store near International Boulevard and 34th Avenue on Tuesday night, according to videos reported by KTVU and police. A car parked on 34th Avenue was set on fire, and trash cans on the sidewalk were knocked over, spilling garbage onto the sidewalk.
The looting and vehicle fire occurred after a peaceful protest denouncing arrests of immigrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had ended, according to businesses owners and Fruitvale residents.
Oakland police said officers responded to a car crash at 34th Avenue and International Boulevard at 8:40 p.m., where 'several people threw objects at the officers' and damaged a police vehicle. No officers were injured, police said. People then set the crashed vehicle on fire.
An hour later, around 9:30 p.m., officers were called to the 3400 block of International Boulevard for a report of a business that was burglarized. Approximately 30 people ransacked the Shiekh store, police said. An unidentified person was arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen merchandise and a burglary tool.
'Looting and violence in any form or the destruction of property will not be tolerated in the city of Oakland,' Mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement. 'To the business owners, we are committed to accountability, safety and protecting the well-being of our communities. Our commitment to peaceful protest does not extend to rioting, or the destruction of property,' Lee said.
On Wednesday morning, workers inside the Shiekh store were cleaning up the mess left behind. Clothing racks were empty and merchandise and shards of glass from the shattered front door were sprawled on the floor. The store's manager declined to be interviewed.
Next door, Deep Singh, owner of Oakland Discount Liquor and Market, arrived to find his garbage cans knocked over and trash spread on the sidewalk in front of his business.
'It's a mess,' he said. 'Who wants to walk into a store (like that) now?'
Some businesses on East 12th Street, in front of Fruitvale Village where the protest was held, remained boarded up Wednesday morning. None appeared to be burglarized.
Norma Orozco, the communications manager at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, said she returned to the nonprofit's headquarters at International Boulevard and 34th Avenue at about 8 p.m. after the protest ended and saw an abandoned vehicle that had crashed into a parked car on 34th Avenue.
Neighbors moved the car from the crosswalk to the side of the road. She said nearby police officers did not immediately respond to the scene of the crash and fire. About an hour later, groups of people tried breaking into the car and later set the car on fire, she said. Firefighters responded and put the fire out, but the vehicle was later set on fire again, Orozco said.
'Everything that happened last night was completely preventable,' she said. 'There were multiple points of intervention, and there were multiple people who saw this happening and not a single step was taken to prevent this.'
Victor Moreno, a Fruitvale resident, was walking his two dogs along International Boulevard on Wednesday morning when he stopped to observe the workers cleaning inside the Shiekh store.
Moreno said he saw black smoke from his apartment window at about 8 p.m. after arriving home from the protest. He said the demonstration was peaceful.
'What I'm afraid of is that people will start to blame the protesters for what happened,' Moreno said in Spanish, referring to the alleged looting.
Singh, the liquor store owner, said he supported the ICE protests and did not believe demonstrators took any part in the destruction. .
'I don't think you should hurt the business owners that are supplying you in the community,' he said.
