Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) told Oakland residents in a statement Sunday to remain vigilant of agitators who seek to use protests as cover for militant activities, a warning she delivered after vandals set multiple fires in the downtown area, including one at the Alameda County Superior Courthouse. She also invoked President Donald Trump.
“Vandalizing our downtown gives Donald Trump the images he wants and the justification he seeks to send federal troops into American cities,” said Schaaf, an apparent reference to the federal agents that have been dispatched to Portland to help quell the ongoing unrest.
“We can’t be fooled and play into his twisted campaign strategy. We celebrate passionate protests but Oaklanders need to know that when they attend protests after dark they may be providing cover for agitators who are more intent on stoking than advancing racial justice,” she said.
According to the Oakland Police Department, the initial protests contained an estimated 700 participants, but as the night dragged on, militants assaulted police officers “with fireworks and dangerous projectiles” and started “small fires.”
Fireworks and dangerous projectiles are some of the items agitators used to assault officers. We ask the organizers of tonight’s demonstration to work with us, calling for peace and help us provide safe spaces and safe places for demonstrators. pic.twitter.com/ImpQdquirU
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) July 26, 2020
An estimated 700 people took part in Saturday nights protest. There was vandalism and multiple small fires in the downtown area. Several people were arrested. pic.twitter.com/CioR2pSzcV
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) July 26, 2020
Officer Johnna Watson, a spokesperson for the police department, said the events of the evening unfolded differently than the previous protests in the city, reports SFGate.
“This group of protesters had specific intentions to participate in one way or another — whether that’s carrying backpacks in with clearly very heavy items, and the smaller group would actually be engaged in doing the damage,” she said.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the Oakland mayor had her home vandalized and spray-painted less than 24 hours before she made the decisive vote to not cut police funding further.
“As you’ve heard from our finance director and our chief of police, any further cuts, real cuts to the police department will require a significant reduction to our widely recognized inadequate 911 response, elimination of current police service, as well as further strain on what is well-documented as an understaffed police force, having the lowest officer-per-crimes staffing of any department in America,” said Schaaf.
“I know we all support reimagining public safety and advancing racial justice — council has already committed to doing just that — but I believe that Oakland must create a new system of public safety and justice based on real numbers that do not mislead the public about the impact of the cuts or whether or not they actually can be accomplished,” she said.
Back in June, the city council cut the police department’s roughly $300 million budget by nearly $14 million.