Albuquerque Unrest

Anonymous makes good on its warnings against the Albuquerque Police Department regarding the James Boyd killing, and launched cyberattacks. People turned out to demonstrate too, although many experienced protestors apparently shied away. That just meant more-immature people took to the streets without much guidance. APD finally fired the tear gas.

I'm amazed how upset people in Albuquerque got over what they perceived as disrespect to the flag. I remember the Vietnam protests, where the disrespect was much more aggressive. I also remember the National Guard bayonet attacks against UNM students back in the day. In comparison, these demonstrations are much more restrained.

I'm also amazed how the national media AREN'T covering the story. All the people on CNN can talk about is the Malaysian airliner. A near-riot in an American city clearly can't hold a candle to the missing airliner story. The blogs are mostly quiet too, although I notice the FDL folks were covering it.

The only local folks who covered the story at all in any completeness - maybe mostly just one guy - were at the "Inhabitants of Burque" blog. Everyone else seems to have fallen down on the job.

Albuquerque Journal:

The rally began at noon. After 9 p.m., police used around a dozen canisters of tear gas to disperse protesters near Central and Vassar, several people were seen being arrested, and Mayor Richard Berry said in a late-night news conference that an officer was injured.

“We respected their rights to protest, obviously,” Berry said, “but … they’ve taken it far beyond a normal protest.”

The march along Central boiled over at several points, with protesters ignoring police commands to disperse and having a standoff with officers in riot gear. The demonstration came after an online “hacktivist” group, known as Anonymous, issued a call to action in response to seeing video of Boyd’s shooting. The group also waged a cyberattack against the APD website, which was inaccessible throughout the day Sunday, and what appeared to be a number of officers’ personal phone numbers were released by a purported hacker.

At one of the most tense moments, demonstrators sat down on Fifth Street near APD headquarters, not complying with officers’ demands to disperse. Police were heard calling the protest an “unlawful assembly” and donned gas masks, riot shields and batons.

Protesters eventually moved on after an hour and marched east on Central Avenue and briefly took over Interstate 25, slowing 75-mph traffic and prompting a police response.

From there, protesters arrived at the university area, where one man climbed a Central Avenue light pole and tried to topple it. After that, protesters marched largely unhindered by police toward Girard and Central, where they jumped on top of an APD substation and sprayed it with graffiti.

Riot police finally arrived and arranged themselves in a line across the busy street. They were joined by officers on horseback, in addition to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team. Protesters confronted them at first but then were able to circumvent the line and continue west on Central Avenue.

After repeated commands from police to leave, officers used cans of tear gas, with gas reportedly drifting north across Johnson Field into the University of New Mexico dorms. UNM later advised students to use their air conditioners if the gas caused any issues. Students were already on a “shelter in place” advisory because of the protesting and police activity.

Then the protests reconvened Downtown at APD headquarters. After another dose of tear gas, fewer than 100 protesters left the building and were ushered by a police line toward Civic Plaza.

When protesters arrived Downtown, a man driving a paint-ball gun rental truck stopped in front of the APD building and pulled out what he claimed was an AK-47 rifle. The man said that the only way to meet APD’s force was with force, but protesters persuaded him to put the gun away.

By 11:30 p.m., police had begun moving out of Downtown, though a small fight broke out and protesters dragged city barriers into the road near Fourth and Central.