Berkeley cops post mug shots of Antifa rioters; liberals freak out

Berkeley cops post mug shots of Antifa rioters; liberals freak out
Antifa thugs look for pro-Trump ralliers to attack in Berkeley, 2017. (Image: Screen grab via Twitter)

Oops, the left is upset. Some leftists lambasted the Berkeley Police Department because they outed violent Antifa goons arrested Sunday by posting the mugshots of those arrested, along with their names, and the alleged crimes for which they were arrested. The practice is not unusual for the Berkeley PD. These leftists are claiming that the cops were looking to arrest only the Antifa gangs during the protests, when actually the cops were looking to arrest only the violent protesters.

According to the police, the number of Antifa counter-protesters arrested is now twenty, “most of them for possession of banned weapons in parks, and on streets and sidewalks. Dozens of weapons were confiscated.”

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Even though there were many hundreds of people, many of whom came armed and hostile, there were no significant injuries to anyone in the public or to City staff. The lack of injuries is fortunate given that extremists threw explosives at Berkeley Police and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office mutual aid officers. Berkeley Fire treated and released three members of the public for minor injuries.

Soon after the arrest, the Berkeley PD posted the information about those arrested, along with their mugshots.

Via The Lid

Liberals were not happy about the PD’s posting.

“This is very disturbing,” said Veena Dubal, a University of California law professor and former Berkeley police review commissioner. “It seems like a public-shaming exercise, which is not the role of the police department … They are making it really accessible for folks who might wish these people harm to locate them.”

“It really seemed to us like the Berkeley police department was there to … target the anti-fascist protesters,” said Jay Kim, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild’s local chapter, which is assisting those arrested. Police appeared to be taking in protesters “at random” and for arbitrary reasons, in some cases with spurious claims about weapons, she said.

“It really indicates a complete lack of concern around people’s safety,” said Zoé Samudzi, a local activist who is helping raise money for the arrested people’s legal fees. “That’s a practice that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around … They have been really accommodating of fascists.”

Targeting the anti-fascist Antifa? They were targeting violence, and Antifa was committing violence.

Some of the violence was recorded by Ford Fischer:

Note: By the term “Black Bloc” Fischer was referring to their clothes, not their race.

The ironic thing about the mugshots is that Antifa cowards tend to cover their faces with masks.  Thanks to the Berkeley PD we get to see some of their faces.

Was the Berkeley Police Department justified in posting the information? Somebody doesn’t think so, because the pictures were taken down (although their information remains):

  • Jason Wallach: 41-year-old male from Oakland, charged with possession of a banned weapon.
  • Kate Brenner: 69-year-old female from Oakland, charged with possession of a banned weapon.
  • Kristen Edith Koster: 50-year-old female from Berkeley, charged with possession of a dangerous weapon.
  • Maria Lewis: 29-year-old female from Emeryville, charged with carrying a banned weapon and working with others to commit a crime.
  • Thomas Parker: 22-year-old male from Berkeley, charged with working with others to commit a crime
  • Caitlin Boyle: 27-year-old female from Oakland, charged with working with others to commit a crime.
  • Blake Griffith: 29-year-old male from Oakland, charged with vandalism.
  • Sarena Perez: 39-year-old female from Oakland, charged with possession of a banned weapon.
  • David Chou: 26-year-old male from Santa Cruz, charged with possession of a banned weapon and working with others to commit a crime.
  • Freddy Martinez: 31-year-old male from Berkeley, charged with battery.
  • Ericka Sokolower-Shain: 28-year-old female from Berkeley, charged with possession of a banned weapon.
  • Javier Cruz-O’Connell: 22-year-old male from Berkeley, charged with possession of a banned weapon.
  • Jamie Hill: 30-year-old female from Emeryville, charged with possession of a banned weapon.
  • Bella Podolsky: 27-year-old female from San Francisco, charged with possession of a banned weapon.
  • Andres Gonzalez: 35-year-old male from Oakland, charged with five counts of carrying a banned weapon.
  • Jeffrey Garten: 28-year-old male, from Oakland, charged with a single count of carrying a banned weapon.

As mentioned before, posting the pictures of those arrested is a common practice of the Berkeley Police.  Here are two non-Antifa examples:

These and other cases are still up on Twitter. The truth is that the only reason for the liberal freakout was to protect Antifa.  Local community papers have been publishing pictures of people arrested for serious crimes for years. The Berkeley posting was not a matter of targeting Antifa, it was about warning the community about people in their midst who might be dangerous, and possibly getting more information about a crime.

I have no problem with what the Berkeley Police did….do you? Let me know your opinion in the comments section.

H/T Eagle Rising

Cross-posted at The Lid

Jeff Dunetz

Jeff Dunetz

Jeff Dunetz is editor and publisher of the The Lid, and a weekly political columnist for the Jewish Star and TruthRevolt. He has also contributed to Breitbart.com, HotAir, and PJ Media’s Tattler.

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