Black Panther Party of Northern California - Freedom Archives

The story. behind the recent ax-
Pest of l6 leadexs end members of
the Black Panther Party for Selfl~efense,
Feb, 24 and 25 in Berkeley
sad Oakland is one of terxox and
harassment aimed at wiping out the
Panthers and hamstringing the defense
of Hazy P, Newton ;
Panthers ~IFVe talked to are also
convinced . this late$t cra~ci~dpwn -i:
fetal :atiot~ ; v' ~fbr the et~cao~raful
rally "t~dir ~ Newtb~ Feb, .~7+which'ffiasi° .
b~,OdO persons to hear Stokel~~y Car "
michae~:, Rap Brown, James Forman
and°'Bobby Seale -- and to " 'deplete
the Newton defense fund with new
legal. cdsts and bail requirements .
Police behavoir, tended to confirm
the -accueat3ons made'by the Pan
. thexai, In , ~rre~ting six of the
Panthex's, Berkeley police publicia~ed
charges of "conspiracy to car~azai;t
murdex ." Having gotten publicicy
mileage ,;with ;ahis bit of sensa+tionalism,
".{the police then~did not
dare to press the charge when the
six wexe brought into court .
. ,_The 'big ,bust began Saturday afternoon
~ Feb, 24, w ith the arxest
~~ ::°f 10 P t rs : in Oakland, ~a~rrd it ;
a , ~` ;a .~r~r~,
peaked" 'in a predawn' polio ra:~d on
tike Serkeley home of Panther °Chairm:
;, mao'~ .
.
.
~
. Bobb~r" Se~a1e afii~'~'his wife, ~. . Ar-
" ~C,ae, ~ ~ . . . : . ;
. . . : , .
" . ~ .'SSaturday " 'morixing in Oakland?y~
~w~a~aid a farith2z "scpokesman, :"..a ;~Pan-
.±ther was cha~`}~~,"with resisting ar-
,~-~re~t fox pxotesti'ng~ the brutiliza~
:~,~tion ,of a Slack man by .
.mss
~~~~~Sat-
.~ ~x ~. ; aftexnaon ; . ,~
ei~hfi :. ~, ~ Via ,
. . . . ~ ~ v. . : ~ j ~ ~ .m . . . . r ; c
.,
y) . .7t .J {. .
.
.
were arrested Qn charges zanging, :'.;
from using profanity 'to inciting~a . .:.
riot as they attempted to stop another
br.utihixation . 'of a,Black woman .
And it was less than .12 Mours ~,,~,»~' '
ter that heavily-aimed Berkeley'
cops moved in on the Sea1~s and fouK
other Panthexs at approximately
3 :I5 a .m, Sunday .
"~y wife and I vrere asleep," said
Seale, "when there was this ~CncCking
at the doax . I got up to see
what: , was happeriing~ The hose was
suxrounded by pigs with shotguns . I
°~~ : opened the door and they artaYted to
come in,
Meanwhile, four Panther: who ,h,~d
left-the Seale home eax~aer, w+~re
surroutrded by .,there squad cars with
shotgun-totirr~ cops . They wexe ordexed
from the car ar~d spread ea91e
against it, The police, according
to ot~e of . .the ; Patithex's irwolved,
decided to 3oin~ the others at the
~, Seals home arid . ' "deputised" a white
standing by to guard the four with
a shotgun,
Seals charged Tuesday afternoon, .
Feb 2~, that 'there white men
assisting the cops h ed been 3denti-
Pied by Panthexs as members of trie
Minutemen oxganisat on,
The six were book~d .on ghaiges of
conspiracy to comet-3, murder, caxrying
a concealed weapon, possessing
a gun with an altered :serial 'number
acrd-a_ ..sawed-gaff shotgun, and carxyinp
a . loaded`-~wea~on in the city
limit