West Coast Solidarity Action - Molotovs thrown into Fresno substation parking lot

cops DO like ''cocktails. they can be found at your local pubs.

Brings to mind a little rhyme about Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer. Hey Lier Dyer your cars are on Fire.

shit just got real in fresno

http://www.kmph-kfre.com/story/15300186/fire-destroys-two-cars-in-downtown-fresno

The video (link) in the previous comment is kind of interesting. Maybe the FPD will bring in Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out. But, seriously. . . how hard do you think it is going to be for the police to figure this out? They have got freaking video surveillance cameras on the corner where that mysterious fire started and they can go back and see exactly who came and went just before and after that incident. In southwest Fresno where this incident happened, they probably have the highest concentration of cameras anywhere. They can literally follow you from one street to the next and see where you drive, walk, or bicycle to. Just saying. Whoever is doing this needs to be aware of the tools the police are using these days. In fact, I would not be surprised if they (the police) know exactly who is doing this and are just waiting for the next action. Since the actions seem to be escalating (first paint on a police memorial, then bricks through a window, and now fire bombing a police car) they could just be biding their time waiting for an incident they could use to arrest and put someone away for a very long time.

This leads to a longer conversation about strategy and tactics in the political struggle for social change and the role of violence (both symbolic and real) in that struggle. Perhaps we can have that discussion another day.

Anyone who participates in an illegal action should be well aware of the risks they are taking and willing to accept the possible consequences before they participate in an action. That being said, they should then take measures to minimize the likeliness of being caught. This includes knowledge of the location of cameras and areas where there are more likely to be witnesses (i.e. residential areas). Have a plan but be flexible. Mask and gloves are important but a mask can draw unwanted attention so be careful. And the most important rule to not getting caught: don't talk about the action to anyone, loose lips sink ships.

....did this act did not gain any friends in the Native American community. Many in that community, of which Carl was a member, are extremely angered by it. Their message to outsiders like these wanna-be anarchists can be put this way: "if you're not Native American, butt out."

Dan You are really quick to point the finger at "Wanna be Anarchists". I don't see any claim of responsibility from any Anarchist groups here. I don't even see any Anarchist "rhetoric" for lack of a better term. This could've been done by the cookie eating liberals of Peace Fresno, more millitant factions of Act Up, a family member of someone killed by the police or even the Local Tea Party tired of over half of their tax dollars going to the police. Pointing fingers at people with or without any evidence is really dangerous with such a trigger happy police force.

On Aug 3rd Dan wrote: "This guy was armed with a knife, and he came at the officer with it (according to civilian witnesses). I personally have no problem with an officer, in those circumstances, using deadly force."
You made friends in the NA community by saying you had no problem with the pig killing Carl? You don't seem to have any beef with pigs harassing the LGBTQ community either, or the homeless. Some people are well off and support the cops because the cops protect their stuff. Some of us want justice and resist the cops because we know who's side they are on and it's not the majority of the people's.

.....I don't know about "making friends in the NA community." But among those whose opinion actually matters (Carl's family and friends--some of whom I've known for over 20 years) I've heard nary an objection to anything I've said.

However, they do object to groups like the Brown Berets inserting themselves into this, and the use of Carl's name to "justify" a criminal act. It's no secret that the Berets (as well as the news media) were told in no uncertain terms to leave when they showed up at a candlelight vigil for Carl a few days after he was killed.

I support "harassment" of the LGBTQ community and the homeless? I think not. If my belief that a five-minute blow job in a dirty public bathroom isn't worth a lifetime of having to register as a sex offender and being subjected to "Jessica's Law" isn't really worth it is "harassment" then you're a bigger fool than I first thought.

And, I certainly don't support the growing vigilante movement in the Tower District aimed at getting rid of the homeless and the black-clad "hipsters" who loiter, drink in public and beg for spare change. Many who do support this are members of the LGBTQ community by the way.

So, free....good night...and good luck....

This is absolutely insane. I hope this isn't a real article. Yes let's answer police brutality with extremist brutality. You are being a terrorist. You sound incredibly intelligent in part of this article but then you say "fuck the police" you are disgusting.

Hey clark, wouldnt you say that murdering dozens of unarmed civilians on quite a different level than tossing a molotov into a parking lot? And its pretty disgusting that the cops are paid by the public, and then they go out and murder the public. I think you are disgusting, and in no part of your post do you sound intelligent.... Yes, some say "fuck the police", but this is because they see police as terrorists. After all, "terrorists" kill innocent people, right? I think you've reached a new level of ignorance by calling a molotov-throwing radical a "terrorist". Lets face it, we dont have to condone the molotov action, but we can finally say that the people have gone on the offensive, on the attack. Instead of going to rallies or marches in response to something (defense), the people have finally struck back, which is essential to bring about any change.... Mike Rhodes is right, its about time for those on the left to have a meaningful discussion about tactics. Its become obvious to the youth that the pacifist/liberal/non-violent tactics are not successful, and they are beginning to adopt new tactics. It simply takes a reading of history to show that a diversity of tactics are needed for meaningful change to take place (Gandhi and King's movements included; eg: Bhagat Singh alongside Gandhi, and many groups alongside king adopted non-pacifist tactics)

We are at WAR! the pigs are our bitter rivals. Remember what the PD did to Kelly Thomas and Oscar Grant and Charles Hill. Who is next to fall? ME or you. whatever means are neccesary we will deploy as we are legion we are insurgency....
We are FREEDOM fighters!!!

Bring your radical, communist selves right on jr. You never will know where the off duty, retired and prior service law enforcement officers, military members and others who believe in the Constitution and these United States of America as they have existed under Christianity, compassion, conservatism, capitalism and the Constitution for well over 200 years, will be. And if you don't think that there are thousands of us roaming around out there, legally armed, every day more than willing to stop any criminal behavior against public servants, public buildings and property and innocent victims, you may well die in your ignorance. I would love to improve the gene pool by taking your type out sooooooooooo...go ahead and make my day! (With apologies to Clint Eastwood aka Dirty Harry).

radical tea party sheriffs making death threats against people who disagree with them doesn't do much other than validate this action.

...be warned. There is a growing movement in the Fresno area for the citizenry to enforce the law themselves, with deadly force. This has been sparked by the inability of the Sheriff to keep crooks locked up in her jail. She's issuing concealed weapon permits left and right, and says her deputies can't be everywhere.

Some in the growing vigilante movement in the Tower favor the use of deadly force--for example, the issuance of "hunting licenses" for "Mutts"--members of the Bulldog street gang. And, several have made it clear on their Face Book page that they're willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of the "scum" in their 'hood.

Mr. Young is definitely not alone. They depise liberals and believe the only good one is a dead one.

http://www.facebook.com/dan.waterhouse2

Dan Waterhouse This is NOT a free speech issue. There's no constitutional right to cell phone service period. At some point, BART is going to call in Homeland Security because interfering with mass transit could be defined as domestic terrorism and the Patriot Act could come into play. These protestors, who simply are looking for an excuse to create chaos, may discover what preventive detention is all about.
August 16 at 6:04pm · 6 people

It seems he things community watch groups in fresno are what is needed to keep crime down.

It seems he's a writer/photographer and is a big fan of the San Francisco Gate Newspaper and the San Fran PD.

He had this to say about the police shooting in fresno.

Dan Waterhouse Stand by for payback. Either the FPOA office will be trashed again, or PD HQs will get hit, for the second time.
August 2 at 8:12am

Dennis- you are now on the radar. I hope you have been smart enough not to use your real name.

Fresno PD investigates blog, substation bomb
Posted at 09:35 PM on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011
By Jim Guy / The Fresno Bee

Fresno police are investigating whether there is a connection between a firebombing at a southwest Fresno police substation and a blog on a website where the action was praised a short time later.

"The individual who left this blog either knows [the arsonist] or was involved," Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.

Dyer said the firebombing happened about 11:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at the substation near Tuolumne and C streets. Firefighters went to a fire in the station's parking lot and found that it started on a police pickup and damaged the personal cars of two officers next to the truck.

The cause was arson and investigators from the Fresno Fire Department, the Police Department's bomb unit and an independent investigator are working on the case.

Slightly more than an hour after the arson, at 12:38 a.m. Aug. 18, Dyer said someone published a blog on the website Indybay.org making reference to it. Indybay strongly opposes Bay Area Rapid Transit police after the fatal shooting of passenger Charles Hill in July.

The blog also condemned the Fresno Police Department and its role in the shooting of Carl Maggiorini, 39, who was killed Aug. 3.

The shooting happened after police say Maggiorini charged an officer while wielding a large knife.

The Fresno County Coroner's Office said Maggiorini had "extraordinarily high" levels of methamphetamine in his body at the time of the shooting.

On the website, someone blogging as "Charles Hill" wrote: "In solidarity with everyone fighting against police brutality and the police state, Molotovs were thrown into the parking lot of the Fresno SW substation where police cars and pigs' personal vehicles are parked. At least two cars burned ... All police are murderers. FPD recently executed Carl Maggiorini and have a strong reputation for executing people of color whether armed or not. The time to fight back is now!"

Said Dyer: "These types of people are cowards."

He added that he had "significant concerns that a least one individual is trying to engage officers in actions against police."

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also is aware of the case, Dyer said.

Efforts to reach Indybay for comment were unsuccessful.

They are the ones who will not face up to charges of stat. rape and child molestation, but instead use there power in the internal affairs department to cover those charges up. They are the police that are scared of the truth coming out about how they have been so trigger happy over the years and how those that they murdered actually were killed. They are the ones that hide behind their guns and so called justice, locking up or killing whole segments of our community. Feeding into a drug war and escalating the violence over the years instead of seeking real solutions to problems faced or bringing peace to our community. Police are the cowards Jerry, and you are their chief coward. Not even addressing what you do each time you take someones life, but instead kneejerking and throwing verbal bombs at us all through the media. It's disgusting to see your cowardly acts on members of our community again and again in the papers.

While I don't myself throw molotovs and bricks. I can't condemn whoever is, cause I too am extremely frustrated with cowardly police killing people and pointing fingers instead of realizing their roles in destroying our communities. Police violence and police killing people is not the answer and never has been. To not face up to that fact demonstrates clearly who the real cowards are. People that are so scared that they hide behind their guns and a thin blue line that protects them from the truth and the reality right in front of them. Police are not the answer, and they have become a big part of the problem - escalating the violence instead of deescalating it.

In recent years police killing people have accounted for up 1/4 of the Fresno wide murders. Over 50 people have been killed by police since Jerry Dyer became Chief, and promised the community that he would do things differently and give everyone a second chance. Mental health trainiing for officers has still never been fully implemented, so we continue to see people with severe mental health issues or drug problems, simply executed by police in broad daylight. It's time for a change Jerry. At the very least retire already, and get out of the way. Your lies will unfurl one way or another, and it will become clearer to everyone what people are so pissed off about and what you are scared of. That noose you once held so proudly in a picture with a fellow officer in the 80s, might just be your own.

I can see more of this happening if the city of Fresno and the state of CA continues to ignore those who have asked in a non-violent way that the Fresno P.D. be investigated. I had hoped with Democrat AG Harris that would happen.

The citizens of Fresno have called for Community review of policing and that continues to be denied. So people of Fresno are fed up. If you don't respond to non-violent calls for justice what do you think will happen ?

I wish that someone could force the City of Fresno to hire a Community Policing Chief of Police that is selected from the outside and not one of the good ol'boys. Then that person could clean house.

The fact that 1/4 of those killed in Fresno was done by police is incredible.

Fresno has no mental health facilities and hardly any drug treatment facilities. So that does contribute to the violence and crime in Fresno. It is sad it has to keep getting worse in Fresno. I was hoping that when the homeless man was beat severly by Fresno PD that would be the lowest.. but it continues.
It is a shame to all of California.

I wish the BBC or another outside news agency would do a report on what the Fresno PD gets away with in corruption and human rights abuse.

that ''gene poool'' comment is a white supremacist thing. they think like africans arent as ''intelligent'' so that is why africans are targeted. this really is a nazi country. thats the ''court system'' automatically ''guilty'' . your genetics are fearful to them. ask someone whos seen the look in a judges eye as they read off false charges. they act like your facial features are evidence youre ''guilty''!

wow, it's exciting to see this kind of action in the central valley. and hear hear for solidarity with seattle!

FPD has a history of brutalty, IMO it was the unarmed roosevelt HS student that was shot and killed that initiated the 'lure' of having an IPA (independent police auditor) aka a state funded empoloyee overseeing the actions of the dept. independent of the dept.'s jurisdictions into effect. This wont work.

NEITHER will the public serving as 'IPA', we dont know the details of EVERY incident. It's all a fucking mess. They take a life of ours and we burn their cars, and all of a sudden were the monsters. It's a debacle that'll likely not be fixed as long as 'civil servants' paychecks are from our own pockets.

There is shitty people in this world, and left to their own merits will continue to be shitty people, i.e., rob/murder/rape their fellow man. This really isnt the place for debate on the efficacy of our police system.

Although, as it stands - maybe next time they'll be lucky enough to burn the car with the unjust pig in it.

This was just posted on The Fresno Bee website:

Firebombs damage Fresno PD officer's home
Posted at 05:36 PM on Sunday, Sep. 04, 2011
The Fresno Bee
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/09/04/2525218/firebombs-damage-fresno-pd-officers.html

Firebombs damaged a Fresno police officer's home early today, about an hour after the officer got off duty from her shift, but no one was injured in the attack.

The female officer had finished her shift in the southwest police district at about 2 a.m., Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said, and arrived at her northwest Fresno home by about 2:30. Shortly after, at about 3 a.m., someone lobbed several Molotov cocktails at the home, igniting fires that caused minor to moderate damage to both the inside and outside of the house.

Another woman and three children also live in the home, Dyer said, but no one was hurt in the bombing.

Dyer said the incident is being investigated jointly by arson investigators from both the Fresno Police and Fresno Fire departments. No arrests have been made.

Investigators don't know if the house was targeted because the woman was a police officer. But Dyer said police are also looking into whether there is a connection with an Aug. 17 incident in which a patrol car was set ablaze, and the personal vehicles of two police officers damaged, at the southwest police district station.

I must say that I’m surprised by this bomb attack against a woman. The police are linking it to the firebombing of a police car at the SW sub-station last month. That bombing is the focus of the article this comment is a part of. Attacking an individual like this is not consistent with the more symbolic actions that have taken place (paint thrown on a police memorial, a brick thrown threw the Fresno Police Officer Association building window, and the firebombing of the police car). I think there might be something else going on here. Like - the female police officer has an ex-husband (or boyfriend) that did this attack.

Another possibility is that this is a trap set by law enforcement to draw out those involved so they can be arrested. If that is the case, then it would be understandable if those involved don't answer the following question.

If in fact this bombing was a conscious act of political violence, I would like to know what those involved are thinking. Why is targeting a female officer (who has children in her house) a good target?

I agree Mike. I don't know whether this was an ex or if this was politically motivated but it definitely doesn't seem to match up with recent actions in Fresno. Dyer is definitely using this to his advantage by focusing on the fact that it was a female officer and there was another female and 3 children in the house. Dyer has to make sure that he and his good ole boys look as good as possible and anyone who opposes them are cowards and criminals. This could have been done by PD, perhaps her name isn't being released because she's one of the officers suing Dyer for discrimination...makes a great patsy for drumming up support of the police.
Whatever the case, the comment section of the bee has quite a few sympathetic voices who understand how fed up people are with FPD, seems like this is only the beginning.

Just wondering if its coming from some sort of inside source in the first place? Thinking back to the latino Lt. that mysteriously committed suicide years ago by Dyers home. Those in Fresno who know or hear about Dyer's history shouldn't rule anything out. Maybe this is an officer that other officers have it out for. It just doesn't seem to make sense that someone could get away with firebombing the SW police substation, and these molotovs make even less sense. It seems more likely that this is a fellow police officer.

It might be a disgruntled community member. We might not even know exactly why this police officer was targeted specifically, but it seems highly suspicious. How would someone be able to tell where the officer lives without some sort of inside information? Why would she be targetted unless she has done something specifically?

47 reported that this officer had her car burned up 6 months ago...

For Release: IMMEDIATE:
September 6, 2011
Lt. Don Gross 621-2751
Public Information Officer
NEWS RELEASE
JERRY DYER
CHIEF OF POLICE

SECOND ARSON FIRE AT OFFICER’S HOME
Media Update to Arson Case
FRESNO – Police Chief Jerry Dyer would like to update the media on the most recent arson at an officer’s home.

On Monday, September 5, 2011, at approximately 9:30 p.m. KMPH News reporter Nicole Garcia, was setting up for a live broadcast at the scene of the officer’s residence that had been firebombed early Sunday morning. During that time she observed smoke coming from the house. She called 911 and reported the incident, initiating a fire and police response. Fresno Fire responded and extinguished the blaze. Arson investigators have determined that the fire was intentionally set.

At this time the Fresno Fire Department, along with the Fresno Police Department, Department of Justice and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) are working jointly to investigate this case.

Our agency will update the media with information as it becomes available.

###

Noticed a "for sale" sign in front of her house, housing market isn't doing too good these days. So many things don't add up with this one.

You are not clint eastwood. You are a dirty old man. All the kids i know who became cops did so that they might better sell drugs. Everything you are protecting can be reduced down to your own ego and your irrational fear of other people. Your thin blue line is there to enforce inequality and to keep life nasty brutish and short for anyone is isn't in your chapter of the Kiwanis club. Also: we outnumber you. You are going to lose. Dont think for a second that we wont be armed.

I live far from the San Joaquin valley, but grew up there 30 years ago. What's the latest scoop? Did anything come of the 'double arson'?

Fresno PD car arson investigation goes online
Thursday, September 29, 2011

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The fires happened at the southwest police substation a few weeks before arsonists also targeted an officer from that same substation. Court documents reveal one place where the investigation is focused.

The investigation into these badly burned vehicles is taking place, in large part, on the internet. Court documents obtained by Action News show police found a severely burned 40-ounce beer bottle with the smell of gasoline right next to a burned pickup truck.

Investigators believe arsonists tossed Molotov Cocktails into the parking lot of the southwest police substation, damaging three vehicles.

Arson experts are taking their time looking into the crime. But news of the fires spread almost as quickly as the flames. Within an hour, the story was online. But not on any traditional news organization's website. Investigators found a blog post on the website indybay.org, apparently taking credit for the firebombing.

It says, "In solidarity with everyone fighting against police brutality and the police state, Molotovs were thrown into the parking lot of the Fresno SW substation where police cars and pigs' personal vehicles are parked. This action is done in solidarity, especially with those in the East Bay standing up against the murderous BART police who most recently executed Charles Hill."

The author of the post is listed as Hill, who was shot and killed during a confrontation in July. A search warrant shows investigators are trying to identify the real author -- checking records at the company hosting indybay's website. Investigators believe the author either committed the crime or knows who did. And they could wrap up two cases with this one lead.

Police Chief Jerry Dyer says the substation attack may be related to a pair of arson fires at an officer's home two weeks later. The female officer worked at the substation that was attacked.