The Chron made the rare move of trying to see the plight of vandalizing anarchists from their side of things today, but the story still ends up being an indictment of them as "Marin County trust-fund types" who just opportunistically appear at rallies so they can break stuff. That quote comes from Mitchell Langon, one of the managers of a sort of Riots 'R' Us store in the East Bay known as Berkeley Surplus. He doesn't seem too fond of these "types," but he sells them their black bandannas and gas masks nonetheless.

They do quote one anarchy supporter as saying a) that "Property destruction by itself is not violence," and b) the tactics of the Black Bloc during conflicts with police are to take the majority of the heat from riot cops, by instigating conflict and pushing back against their lines, in order to protect the rest of the crowd. That seems a little bit disingenuous, but ok, sure.

The Chron still fails to find a way to justify last Monday's destruction of small businesses on Valencia Street, something with the Occupy movement still wishes it could divorce itself from. But from the article one can hear the internal conflict within the movement itself, wherein some of its members see the black-clad, extra-enthusiastic young folks as an important and welcome addition to the mix.

[Chron]