Hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters marched through the streets of Oakland, Calif., last Wednesday chanting “death to America.”
Rioters among the crowd also set fires and broke into several businesses while vandalizing others, according to police. Video of the protest along with the anti-American chant went viral across Twitter on Sunday.
“This wasn’t widely reported. On Wednesday night, around 700 black bloc militants and their supporters rampaged through Oakland, Cal. They chanted ‘death to America’ while starting fires and smashing cars and buildings,” The Post Millennial Editor-at-Large Andy Ngo said.
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1300200578367152129
Rioters also lobbed objects at police officers. No officers were injured, and a handful of the rioters were arrested, the Oakland Police Department (OPD ) said on Wednesday.
“600-700 people took part in violent & destructive protests Wed. night. numerous fires set, dozens of windows broken, multiple businesses vandalized. Protesters threw objects at officers, thankfully no officers were injured. Several people arrested,” OPD said.
600-700 people took part in violent & destructive protests Wed. night. numerous fires set, dozens of windows broken, multiple businesses vandalized. Protesters threw objects at officers, thankfully no officers were injured. Several people arrested. pic.twitter.com/5tBIQ1FsQO
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) August 27, 2020
A similar event took place at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wis., the day before. Protesters gathered outside of the Kenosha County Courthouse and screamed phrases such as “death to America” and “kill the police” while one protester set an American flag on fire.
“Death to America” has long been used by the Iranian regime to inculcate anti-American sentiment into its citizens. As The Daily Wire noted:
Chants of “Death to America” have been, until recently, more associated with America-haters abroad than in the United States. The first leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, who took power in 1979, championed the term being used. In 2015, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani defended the chant. In March 2015, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei smiled and said, “Of course yes, death to America.”
Opinion columnist Rita Panahi, who lived and went to school in Tehran while growing up, said that her childhood teachers in Iran made her recite the phrase.
We were forced to chant “death to America” when I was at school in Tehran. Now, the Left chant it in America. https://t.co/1VydmICdLx
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) August 26, 2020
The antics represent a growing anti-American sentiment building among left-wing groups that have used protests over the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day and the shooting of Jacob Blake last week as cover to destroy property and loot businesses.
Floyd died after a Minneapolis, Minn., police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. An autopsy revealed a potentially lethal cocktail of fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.
On Aug. 23, a Kenosha, Wis., police officer shot Blake seven times in the back while trying to take him into custody. Police were called to the house of a woman who was Blake’s former girlfriend over a domestic disturbance. Arresting officers said that Blake fought with officers and resisted two shots from tasers before opening up the driver’s door of an SUV parked outside the house. Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake as he leaned into the vehicle. Blake is unlikely to ever walk again after one of the bullets severed his spinal cord, according to Blake’s attorney.