(Photos: Timcast & CrossXBones, via Ustream)
On the night of Tuesday, July 24 – leading into the morning of the 25th – protesters and riot police continued to clash in Anaheim, California, after the killing of two men by police officers the previous weekend.
One of the two men killed was Manuel Diaz, 25, who was unarmed at the time that Anaheim police stopped to question him last Saturday, July 21. The Anaheim Police Department has stated that Diaz was a known gang member, that he started to run after being approached by police in an alley, allegedly tossed something away while running, and was then shot. However, police have yet to provide evidence for the need to use lethal force against an unarmed suspect, or information about why Diaz was stopped in the first place.
Since the incident, his family has filed a lawsuit against the city of Anaheim, and Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait has called for a state and federal investigation of the incident.
Tensions boiled over on Tuesday, when over 600 protesters were denied access to a City Hall meeting. That night, hundreds engaged in a standoff with Anaheim police, which quickly escalated into a violent conflict.
Police fired on the crowd with pepper balls (a paintball-sized round filled with the material used in pepper spray), sponge rounds, bean bag rounds and rubber bullets. A number of protesters – although not all – responded with rocks and bottles. Protesters also lit a number of fires, and smashed the windows of a local Starbucks.
Although the Anaheim protests were not Occupy-related, many occupiers and Occupy groups around the country took to Twitter during the night to express solidarity with the protesters. Livestream coverage of the night’s events was provided by Timcast and CrossXBones.
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