Protestors spray painted on Mayor Liccardo's house Friday night and burned flags in front of it.
"Recent protests sparked by police killings of Black people across the country have escalated to a level that has put big-city mayors in the crosshairs of protesters who don’t think they’re doing enough to forge change and others — including President Donald Trump — who say they should be cracking down on the unrest.
And for some of them, the strife has hit close to home in the form of vandalism.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who has largely defended the city’s police department and advocated against the defunding police movement in recent months, became the latest target of protesters this weekend when about 100 of them marched to his home sparked by the recent Wisconsin police shooting of Black resident Jacob Blake.
While there, some protesters spray-painted messages, including “F*** 12,” referring to police, and “San Jose will be free soon” on his house, threw eggs at it and burned an American flag and a Blue Lives Matter flag taken to the scene, according to police."
Later that evening police reported a second incident of vandalism at San Jose City Hall, where one suspect was arrested, booked and jailed on a felony charge. Detectives in the San Jose Police Department are conducting investigations into both incidents.
“Having someone graffiti my house is just part of the job,” Liccardo said Monday after he and his neighbors had cleaned off any remnants of the graffiti from his home. “I understand that’s the nature of leadership in difficult times but what is of greater concern to me is a pattern of violent and criminal behavior designed to lure police.”
The vandalism to Liccardo’s home occurred just one month after the home of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf was also splattered with graffiti messages such as “Defund OPD” and “Cancel Rent.”
Though police didn’t get to Liccardo’s home when the vandalism occurred, they did arrive in time to City Hall to find one suspect still scrawling messages on a wall there, according to San Jose Police Department Sgt. Christian Camarillo.
“All indications were that this was supposed to be a peaceful protest, just like the second week of George Floyd protests, so there really wasn’t a need for us to be out there,” Camarillo said in an interview Monday. “We 110% support people who want to organize and conduct peaceful protests, but when a crime occurs and blatant acts of vandalism occur, we are going to respond.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/31/vandalism-of-mayors-homes-takes-protests-to-a-new-level/
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