Video: One Protester Tackled by Another Over Smashed Whole Foods Window

Yesterday, a rumor going around on Twitter maintained that Whole Foods had threatened to fire employees who took part in the protest, which Whole Foods steadfastly denied.

In the afternoon, a Whole Foods window was spray-painted and smashed. Our reporter Andrew Stelzer captured this video of black-clad protesters in the act of grafitting the window at 27th Street and Harrison Street in Oakland. Another protester then tackles someone who broke the store’s window.

Stelzer talked to a woman who defended the smashing of the window at Whole Foods. She did not witness the scene, but commented on it afterward.

Audio: Woman defends the window smashing

“I don’t see any people hurt here. The people that I see hurt are the people outside that are being hurt by the police, that have being hurt by the city, by the police, by the banks. And I see workers inside that are being screwed by their employers and also screwed over by the banks. so seeing a window smashed, a window that whatever insurance company is going to replace tomorrow, seems ridiculous to me.”

Earlier, Andrew Stelzer talked to Zach Voorhees, who had tackled a protester that had smashed a window at a bank. Listen to the audio, followed by a transcript.

Audio: Man who tackled a protester who smashed a bank window

“This isn’t about violence, this is about changing the system,” Voorhees said. “And if people cause violence then they are going to disrupt the narrative and they are going to take focus away and they are going to give police the justification to crack down… Violence does not change. Non-violence is the most powerful weapon that we have as citizens…I don’t know who these people are, but they have masks, they have black flags, and they’re trying to smash up. And I’m going to stop that if I can because I want this march to remain peaceful.”

(Note: In an earlier version of this post, we incorrectly identified Zach Voorhees as the man who tackled the Whole Foods window-smasher.)