Source: altmuslim.com
http://www.altmuslim.com/perm.php?id=P1602_0_24_0
On December 1, 2005 altmuslim.com reported, "The issue of liquor stores in poor African-American neighborhoods such as those in Oakland, California has long been an issue of contention with urban activists. Seen by many as magnets for criminal behavior and contributing to alcohol abuse among the poor, liquor stores were one of the first targets in the 1992 Los Angeles riots. It gets even more complicated [considering] that 80% of Oakland's 360 liquor stores are owned by Yemeni Muslim immigrants... This fact brings a religious dimension to a community conflict where Muslims can be found on both sides of the struggle... [Last week, members of a Muslim group that is an offshoot of the Nation of Islam vandalized a Muslim-owned store, the New York Market] 'The suspects entered the store and questioned why a Muslim-owned store would sell alcoholic beverages when it is against the Muslim religion,' Oakland police said in a statement. Then, in full view of video cameras, the store was vandalized until broken bottles of hard liquor littered the floor. A few days later, store clerk Abdel Hamdan was kidnapped and thrown in a trunk while others lit the store on fire. Spokespeople from the Nation of Islam joined the Yemeni American Grocers Association to condemn the attacks... After denying any knowledge of the attacks.... Yusuf Bey IV - whose father founded the sect and died last year amid charges of corruption and rape - turned himself in along with an accomplice to face charges of robbery, vandalism, and making terrorist threats."