Liquor store owner's ordeal Arson, kidnapping in Oakland -- 6 sought in pr

[icymist]

Liquor store owner's ordeal
Arson, kidnapping in Oakland -- 6 sought in previous attack

The owner of one of two West Oakland corner markets vandalized last week for selling alcohol to African Americans was kidnapped shortly before his store burned in an arson fire Monday, police said.

The owner of New York Market, Tony Hamdan, was found safe about 12 hours after the fire gutted his store. Later Monday, Oakland police said they had identified six of the men who had destroyed liquor displays and toppled shelves at another market shortly before midnight Wednesday.

Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said investigators were seeking arrest warrants for six of the 10 or 11 men wearing bow ties and suits who were videotaped trashing San Pablo Liquor on San Pablo Avenue. The same men are believed to have vandalized New York Market about 12 blocks away, police said.

<snip>
"I don't know if it is because of their race or ethnicity that these liquor store owners are being singled out," Brooks said. "My heart goes out to these people, the operators of these liquor stores. From talking with them, I've learned they've invested their lives and savings in operating these stores."

(more)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/29/MNGG3FVJVP1.DTL

What's going on in Oakland? Are these fundamentalist Muslims going around the place breaking up liquor stores? In the mid nineties, there was a group of fundamentalist Muslims 'patrolling' the Central District in Seattle, trying to force Muslim law on the neighborhood. They pretty much broke up after 9/11. Is this kind of crap becoming a trend?

on edit for spelling

[ck4829]

1. As a Muslim

I think this is an Act which is undoubtedly evil.

Those stores were the livelihoods of those people, and even though I don't drink alcohol, I could NEVER impose that on anyone else.

[icymist]

4. I'll never understand why some people need to force....

everybody else to conform to their narrow views, much less to make this in the name of God.

[icymist]

2. From a Seattle Times editoral dated August 13, 2002:

<snip>
In the late 1990s, the Dar-us-Salaam mosque members sought to impose a strict Islamic code on the neighborhood, The Seattle Times reported Sunday. Armed enforcers patrolled the neighborhood around the mosque, sometimes beating people who violated rules prohibiting drinking and smoking. The stories are reminiscent of the Taliban's regime in Afghanistan before its ouster earlier this year.

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=mosquesed13&date=20020813&query=Central+District+Islam

Free registration required for archives.

[Scurrilous]

3. LIQUOR STORE OWNER SAYS VANDALS MOTIVATED BY RELIGION

<snip>

"The Oakland Police Department has revealed little about its investigation into last week's attack on two Oakland liquor stores, but Tony Hamdan, owner of one of the store's that was vandalized, said he is certain that the attacks were carried out by a group of African American Muslim men intent on teaching the shopkeepers' a lesson in religion."

<snip>

"I'm not scared," said Hamdan, who was born to an Italian father and Arabic mother in New York City. "They need to understand what Islam is. They need to go read the Koran."

<snip>

"Hamdan said he had been raised as a Muslim and was taught to speak and read Arabic to further his education of Islam.

"One day we are going to meet in a mosque and talk like real Muslims," said Hamdan. "I know everything about Islam. They can't judge us."

Minister Tony Muhammad held a news conference at 11 a.m. this morning at Muhammad Mosque 26B in Oakland, denying that members of the Nation of Islam had anything to do with the attacks. The mosque is affiliated with the Nation of Islam under the leadership of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan."


http://www.cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2005/11/26/n/HeadlineNews/LIQUOR-STORE-VANDALIS/resources_bcn_html

[FredScuttle]

5. It ain't the Nation

NOI doesn't operate like this. I'm thinking these are just thugs looking to make the Nation look bad while they're at it

[Terran]

6. That occurred to me too.

I worked in downtown Oakland for about ten years, '85-'94, and the NOI men were a presence on the sidewalk, handing out leaflets to anyone who would take them. They were always civil, and I had them pegged as a force for good in that community, if a bit strict, doctrinally. Unless something has radically changed, I have to wonder if these aren't imposters. It's easy to put on a suit and a bow tie and make people think you're associated with the NOI.