Agent Provocateur?
Two undercover officers were outed at protest in the San Francisco Bay area yesterday, causing panic and confusion when the plain clothes officers drew their weapons. The officers pulled their guns and pointed them at a photographer from Reuters. Eyewitness reports claim that officers were encouraging protesters to loot. Oakland PD is refuting that the men work for the police department, and claim that they are from an “outside agency.”
The officers were confirmed later that they were from the California Highway Patrol division.
From KTVU:
“Two officers, both dressed as civilians and wearing bandanas over their faces, were walking with the group when the demonstrators started pointing at them yelling, “Hey, they’re undercover, they’re cops!”
Oakland police Lt. Chris Bolton wrote on Twitter Thursday morning that the officer was not an Oakland police officer. Bolton said Oakland police were the first to respond to the scene on a report from another agency.
Bolton wrote, “That outside agency has been notified to provide details and address concerns” regarding the officers’ behavior at the protest.
One Berkeley resident, Dylan, who declined to give his last name, said he pulled off the officer’s bandana.
The two policemen started to walk away, but the protesters persisted, screaming at the two undercover cops. One of the officers pushed a protester aside. The man responded by pushing back and then the officer tackled him to the ground, handcuffing him.
The crowd, incensed, began to gather around them. The second officer pulled out his gun and pointed it at the crowd. More officers quickly arrived and dispersed the crowd.”
Reporter Courtney Harrop has been compiling eyewitness accounts here.
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