No arrests: Violent rioters run amok in front of officersVideos of a full-scale riot at the Capitol in Sacramento, California, on June 26 show members of the two sides, some with bloody stab wounds, attacking and bludgeoning each other.
An estimated 10 people were injured in the violent confrontation between members of the Traditionalist Worker Party, who had obtained permission for an assembly, and left-leaning parties who protested the Worker Party shouldn’t be allowed to demonstrate because its views are unacceptable.
The riot was big enough that it captured worldwide attention, with Russia Today devoting more than 10 minutes to the fisticuffs and slashing.
The local police department even posted a statement online that it had deployed more than 100 officers to respond to the violence. The California Highway Patrol joined the Sacramento police in responding since the violence partly was on state grounds.
However, not quite a week later, there have been no arrests. Observers are wondering why, with both victims and suspects on video, a squadron of officers at the scene and testimony from witnesses.
Officials both with the California Highway Patrol and the city police department assured WND that their investigations were ongoing. One reported a lack of cooperation from stabbing victims and said perpetrators still had to be identified.
“We’re starting to get the community calling and assisting with trying to sort out a ton of video,” one officer told WND.
A spokesman for the city said there apparently were injuries on both sides of the fight.
“But we have not made an arrest up until this point,” the city spokesman said.
On the day of the riot, Sacramento police issued a statement that its officers were deployed to the event by the Traditionalist Worker Party, which was permitted by the California Highway Patrol.
“The Sacramento Police Department and its state partners had been made aware of a counterprotest effort organized by a local anti-fascist group. Recently, other events across the country that have been attended by similarly affiliated groups have been punctuated by violence.”
The report said 100 officers were dispatched, and the protest “quickly escalated and turned violent.”
So officers physically intervened.
The city reported someone also found a loaded handgun on the Capitol grounds.
However, a Daily Activity Log for that day, Sunday, June 26, had only scanty information.
It noted a suspicious package at a church, a glass bottle thrown at a car, a family disturbance, a street fight where one man had to be subdued through a “conductive energy device” and an injury accident.
Then it said: “Officers responding to the location regarding a victim who had been stabbed at a rally held at the State Capitol. He was transported by a friend to this location. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The victim could not provide any information as to who had stabbed him. As officers were on scene with the victim, a carload of subjects showed up who had been pepper sprayed and red paint thrown on them. The subjects relayed that they had been assaulted with bats, sticks and skateboards at the Capitol. These subjects refused to take photos of their injuries and did not want to report the incident. The subjects stated at the opposing group was responsible for pepper spraying them, not law enforcement.”
The Sacramento Bee reported that clashes broke out even before the rally was to begin.
The neo-Nazi demonstrators clashed with protesters and “at least 10 people” were injured, the report said.
“We had some pretty dynamic and chaotic situations,” Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey, who arrived as a public information officer and quickly found himself working as a paramedic, told the newspapers.
“We had a number of times where we had a patient on the ground and crews were trying to do triage and take care of them and the chaos was enveloping them. They were surrounded by the CHP and police officers just trying to keep the general surge of people away.”
The newspaper said that in one of the earliest clashes, the “anti-fascists” confronted KCRA reporter Mike Luery and his cameramen, ordering them to leave.
“We’re not causing the problem; your belligerent people are causing the problem,” he told the crowd.
Then someone reached in and knocked the microphone from his hand and others tried to grab the camera.
Highway Patrol officials also told WND they were continuing to investigate. The agency is responsible for activity on the Capitol grounds.
Sacramento Police Chief Sam Somers told the paper the conflict was between sides he called “anarchists” and “skinheads.”
“Regardless of the message, it’s the skinheads’ First Amendment right to free speech,” he said of the group that originally held the permit.
Police noted that many on both sides were dressed in black, wearing face masks and hoodies, and “it was difficult to tell at times who was on which side.”
Yvette Felarco, described by the newspaper as a member of the By Any Means Necessary group who had come from Oakland, called her efforts a success.
“The Nazis did not recruit anyone new today, and our side did.”
http://www.wnd.com/2016/07/no-arrests-violent-rioters-run-amok-in-front-of-officers/#PgQeCHWbLKTVArdE.99
