WHAT IS REALLY THE CAUSE OF THE RIOTS IN OAKLAND?

Unruly fans set several cars on fire, tossed bus stop benches into the street, burned Christmas trees, broke car windows and blocked parts of International Boulevard in East Oakland

Unruly fans set several cars on fire, tossed bus stop benches into the street, burned Christmas trees, broke car windows and blocked parts of International Boulevard in East Oakland
Riot police lobbed tear gas to break up the crowd of mostly young adults, the second straight week of violence
A McDonald's restaurant was trashed and fires could be seen burning up and down the busy thoroughfare.

The boisterous, unruly crowd stood on street corners as a police line moved them east along International Boulevard, near 38th Avenue. One man yelled at the crowd: ``Raider fans, roll it back. The tear gas is getting stronger.''

Police could not be immediately contacted. Several teens complained that police had overreacted.

``They're just trying to get everybody off the street, but we're just trying to have fun,'' said Jaunel Williams, 14, an eighth-grader at Oakland's Calvin Simmons Middle School, as he covered his face with a T-shirt. ``This stuff burns my eyes and throat.''

Some people were taunting motorists who were trying to weave their way through intersections along International Boulevard. Others danced in the street, waving Raider flags. Others dragged dried out Christmas trees into the street, setting them ablaze.

Almost 500 Oakland police officers, Alameda County deputies and Highway Patrol officers were ready for duty.

Authorities also kept traffic out of the city's historic Jack London Square, near downtown, and fans mostly heeded official warnings and stayed away from the area.

The scene along International Boulevard started like a sideshow, with youths in Raiders jerseys hanging out of car windows and even jumping out of moving cars as TV helicopters flew overhead.

Many fans said they hoped the streets would remain calm, although they acknowledged the possibility for trouble.

``I hope they don't destroy the town,'' said Salvador Salas, who stopped before the game for a bite to eat at a taco bar along International Boulevard, the street that took the brunt of the damage last week.

At Q's Clothing, Nader Qutov, the owner's nephew, said he was closing early for fear that the night would turn violent. But before the game he hawked Raiders t-shirts to eager fans.

But when the Raiders fell behind Tampa Bay early on, the fight seemed to go out of many fans scattered across sports bars and homes in the East Bay.

``They're playing like they don't want to win,'' said John Carroll, 67, who was so despondent that he turned away from the game during the third quarter to smoke cigarettes outside the Club New Yorker on East 18th Street in Oakland.

``They are making asses of themselves between fumbles, sacks and interceptions,'' said Carroll, a lifelong East Oakland resident. ``They are playing worse than a normal high school football team.''

Added Debbie Nobrega-Tabarez, 40, of Oakland, who was wearing a gray and black mask that looked as though she had painted her face: ``I was crying until half time, and then I stopped crying.''

As time ran out at Ricky's Sports Lounge in San Leandro, where 500 fans had paid $25 to watch the Super Bowl on a 20-foot big screen TV set up in the parking lot, the tears came again.

``It's okay,'' said Nobrega-Tabarez. ``That's our team. We're still going to be there'' for them.