Black Lives Matter rioters attacked and vandalized the home of San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo over the weekend after he has defended the city’s police department amid calls from left-wing activists to “defund the police.”
The Mercury News reported on Monday that approximately 100 Black Lives Matter activists vandalized the mayor’s home and threw objects at it.
“While there, some protesters spray-painted messages, including ‘F*** 12,’ referring to police, and ‘San Jose will be free soon’ on his house, threw eggs at it and burned an American flag and a Blue Lives Matter flag taken to the scene,” The Mercury News reported. “Later that evening police reported a second incident of vandalism at San Jose City Hall, where one suspect was arrested, booked and jailed on a felony charge. Detectives in the San Jose Police Department are conducting investigations into both incidents.”
Journalist Andy Ngo shared a video on social media of the attack, writing: “Over the weekend, around a hundred #BLM rioters went to San Jose, Cal. Mayor @sliccardo’s home and vandalized it. They also burned a US & pro-police flag at the scene.”
WATCH:
Over the weekend, around a hundred #BLM rioters went to San Jose, Cal. Mayor @sliccardo’s home and vandalized it. They also burned a US & pro-police flag at the scene. pic.twitter.com/LKRGGtboTH
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) September 2, 2020
“Having someone graffiti my house is just part of the job,” Liccardo said on Monday. “I understand that’s the nature of leadership in difficult times but what is of greater concern to me is a pattern of violent and criminal behavior designed to lure police.”
Earlier this year, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Liccardo defended the city’s police department and said that defunding them was not the answer.
“We have much work to do to confront our long and terrible history of police brutality against black and brown Americans,” Liccardo said. “Defunding urban police departments won’t help us do it. It is the wrong idea at the worst possible time and the budget released tomorrow will reflect that.”
“Defunding police will hurt the very people who have suffered the most from systemic racism in this nation,” Liccardo continued. “Rich, white communities and businesses in suburban malls will just accelerate the hiring of private security guards.”
The attack on the mayor’s home comes as far-left extremists have attacked the homes of mayors around the U.S., particularly on the West Coast.
Just this week, far-left rioters attacked an apartment building that Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler lives in and set a fire in the building.
Earlier this summer, the home of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf was attacked.
“Around 2 a.m. vandals shot projectiles at the Mayor’s home, set off fireworks, and graffitied her home with paint. This attack, designed to intimidate the mayor and strike fear into her family, will not stop her from advocating the policies she believes are in the best long-term interest of her beloved hometown,” a spokesperson for Schaaf said. “Like all Oaklanders, she supports passionate protest but does not support tactics meant to harm and terrorize others.”