An undercover cop in Oakland pulled out a gun and pointed it at protesters Wednesday night after they exposed him and a partner as police officers attempting to incite crime.
The shocking moment was captured by Reuters photographer Noah Berger, who was covering protests spurred by the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases.
An undercover cop pulled a gun on Michael Brown and Eric Garner protesters in Oakland: http://t.co/Hzh78MNaj6 pic.twitter.com/zZMBKhWavR
— Complex (@ComplexMag) December 11, 2014
Reports indicate that two police officers were posing as protesters, while wearing bandanas over their faces. Others in the group cottoned on to the fact that they were not legitimate demonstrators and began pointing at them and yelling, “Hey, they’re undercover, they’re cops!”
The two cops attempted to break off from the group, but were followed. A legitimate protester attempted to remove one of the cops’ balaclavas, and one of the officers pushed a protester, causing a scuffle to break out.
One of the officers slammed the protester to the ground, and handcuffed him, riling up the crowd. The second officer then pulled out a concealed weapon and waved it around telling protesters to back off, before scores of uniformed back up cops arrived on the scene.
Here is an image of one of last nights undercovers pointing his gun directly at a person with a camera. #oakland pic.twitter.com/lVEsNEhFpu
— Courtney Harrop (@CourtneyPFB) December 11, 2014
RT @TheZOMB: Another view of the undercover infiltrator arresting someone at #OaklandProtest #berkeleyprotests pic.twitter.com/uovn2l6CRh
— semprecontro (@semprecontro) December 11, 2014
Witnesses at the scene claimed that the two undercover cops were attempting to rile up the crowd and get them to vandalize property and loot businesses.
@Federal_flashes @DaveId those are the ones who were hitting bank windows before T-Mobile got looted! #berkeleyprotests
— CxD (@CRTNBYDSTRCTN) December 11, 2014
Undercovers infiltrate #berkeleyprotests and pull gun? Police infiltrator in a mask making arrest?? pic.twitter.com/eIVULrqpSJ #oaklandprotest
— mary mad (@marymad) December 11, 2014
Protesters say that the officers were banging on windows and shouting inflammatory statements. One protester claims to have a video of the officers doing just this, but has not yet posted it.
@marymad CONFIRMED – partner is on the ground, eyewitness & just called me to confirm this. Has video, will post later. #berkeleyprotests
— Morpheus Ravenna (@MorpheusRavenna) December 11, 2014
Another screenshot of gun cop, looking slightly more forward. Witnesses said he had goatee #Oakland #BerkeleyProtests pic.twitter.com/GhY53mbppj
— Dave Id (@DaveId) December 11, 2014
@MorpheusRavenna @Grlyflynn @CourtneyPFB @marymad but if there's audio of that undercover agitating for looting, that's HUGE! Publish that.
— Sales Are Down (@occbaystreet) December 11, 2014
Later commenting on the incident, Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton revealed that the cops were from an “outside” agency and that he would investigate the claims of them acting as agent provocateurs.
The #OaklandProtest pictured man isn't an OPD officer & not an OPD arrest. OPD 1st responded to scene on report from other agency. 1/1
— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014
Bolton appealed for any evidence to be shared.
#OaklandProtests If allegation officers incited crime, crowd source video & provide a link so I may forward. Obviously troubling.
— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014
Bolton later stated that the officers were with the California Highway Patrol.
Last night #OaklandPolice responded to a request for help during a California Highway Patrol arrest at Bay & Harrison St. (1/2)
— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014
@techieshark Yes, it was a CHP arrest conducted by CHP officers.
— Lt. Chris Bolton (@OPDChris) December 11, 2014
Protesters claimed that the person who was tackled to the ground and taken into custody by the cops has a concussion stemming from the incident.
person in custody has concussion from police during the undercover cop incident. we need to get him out. donate: https://t.co/ih9Of0ndhG
— Occupy Oakland (@OccupyOakland) December 11, 2014
"Tip to undercover provocateurs: Lose the douchey copstash and you won't need a mask" @Hewletmoon pic.twitter.com/XvuJm84hTh #oaklandprotest
— Morpheus Ravenna (@MorpheusRavenna) December 11, 2014
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Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.
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