From the Asheville (NC) Citizen-Times:
Video footage captured by Asheville Citizen-Times surveillance cameras shows some among a large group suspected in a Saturday night vandalism spree throwing bricks at windows and dragging newspaper boxes into the street.
The video also shows about 13 people who diverted from the main group and walked down an alley on the side of the Citizen-Times building used for employee parking. Between 20-30 people continued walking south on O'Henry Avenue.
The Asheville Police Department estimated the vandals damaged at least eight vehicles and five businesses.
Almost all of the 11 people arrested after the vandalism spree in downtown Asheville listed addresses outside Western North Carolina.
The suspects, whose ages ranged from 17-26, were each charged with seven counts of injury to personal property and three counts of injury to real property, both misdemeanors, according to arrest warrants filed at the Buncombe County Magistrate's Office. All are expected to have a first court appearance on the charges today.
Clearly another case of the dangerous right-wing radicalism that's sweeping the country, right?
Wrong:
The anonymous author of a sign posted Sunday on the glass sculpture outside the Grove Arcade at the corner of Page and Battery Park avenues argued that the incident Saturday was connected to May Day, a May 1 holiday honoring and advocating for workers' rights.
...
At least five of the suspects arrested appear to be enrolled in colleges and universities, warrants show.
...
[Arrested suspect Havely Carolyn] Carsky is listed as a senior biology student at UNC Asheville, according to the school directory. Allgeier is a sophomore studying women's studies and art at UNC Chapel Hill, the student directory shows. Stezer attends Alamance Community College in Graham, and Ullian goes to Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt., arrest warrants show.
[Arrested suspect Cailin Elizabeth] Major was named in a civil rights lawsuit filed in Michigan last year, according to online court documents. She was named as a participant in protest at a church organized by Bash Back!, a radical gay rights organization with chapters around the country.
A Google News search for "Asheville vandalism" results in no media stories outside of the local area.
However, a Google News search for "Asheville violence" does yield one week-old USA Today-aggregated story... about a HAM radio buff who was arrested outside a the Asheville airport for having "large antennas" on his car. The story makes a point to note that the since-released man's website contained "no threats of violence or anti-Obama material."
Well, that's nice to know.
You really have to watch out for those HAM radio operators. They can quickly get out of hand and start sending messages in morse code or something.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think that has finally been removed as a requirement for an operators license.