Protesters Head Into the Streets of Oakland Over Light Cop Sentencing

Police stand guard in Oakland, Calif. in the aftermath of the light sentencing of a fellow officer in the killing of African American youth Oscar Grant. The white BART cop only received two years for voluntary manslaughter.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

Protesters head into the streets in Oakland

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Matthai Kuruvila,Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writers

Friday, November 5, 2010

(11-05) 20:30 PDT OAKLAND -- Scores of protesters angered by the two-year sentence handed down to former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle were arrested Friday night after marching from downtown Oakland into a residential area south of Lake Merritt, where protesters smashed about a dozen car windshields and a police officer had his gun snatched.

The marchers headed out of downtown after a peaceful rally outside City Hall, where as many as 500 people sang songs and heard speeches denouncing the sentence Mehserle received earlier in the day for the fatal shooting of unarmed BART rider Oscar Grant.

About 200 demonstrators surged into the streets after darkness fell, marching southeast to Sixth Avenue in East Oakland, where police corralled the core group.

Several in the crowd said they had been headed to the Fruitvale BART station, where Mehserle shot Grant early Jan. 1, 2009. As word of the destination spread, BART officials shut the station, allowing trains to go through but not to stop.

Police stopped the marchers about a mile from the station.

Confrontations

Dozens of other officers stayed downtown to guard against a repeat of the looting that broke out July 8 after Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and acquitted of murder.

The marchers headed toward the Fruitvale Station encountered a line of about 100 police officers near Laney College around 6:45 p.m. One protester threw a soda can at the riot-gear-clad police, and within 15 minutes, the crowd had broken through the construction fence at a nearby park and made its way past Lake Merritt.

From there, demonstrators marched along International Boulevard, and then wandered the streets until police trapped them on Sixth Avenue between East 17th and East 18th streets.

As they milled about, they smashed about a dozen car windows and jumped on top of taxi cabs.

The situation turned dangerous when a protester ripped the holster and gun from a police officer's belt, Police Chief Anthony Batts said at a news conference. The protester was swarmed by other officers and arrested.

One police officer was hit by a car - possibly a patrol car - and just past 7 p.m., Batts decided to put an end to the demonstration.

He ordered the march declared an unlawful assembly, based on the incident with the officer's gun, and at 7:40 p.m. police began arresting people.

'That's justice?'

By then, the crowd that had set out from City Hall had dwindled to about 100 people. While the police began the arrests, some protesters fled through back yards in the modest residential neighborhood, while others banged on cars and some lit a trash can fire.

One man confronted protesters after finding a big dent in his car, saying, "That's justice? It's anger."

One protester yelled back, "I'm marching, man!"

The demonstrations that began early in the afternoon, after the sentencing announcement, were supposed to lead to a march to DeFremery Park in West Oakland, Batts said. And that's where police thought they were headed when they began leaving after 6 p.m.

"They went the opposite direction from what we had agreed to," the chief said. "Up until 6 p.m. everything went very well."

Peaceful rallies

Some downtown stores had boarded up their windows and several businesses closed early out of concern over possible unrest, but downtown emerged from the rallies unscathed.

The City Hall rally and another at the corner of 14th and Broadway were peaceful. Rather than the incendiary anger of past demonstrations over the Grant shooting, the rallies mostly had an air of sadness.

Chris Hall, a social worker who lives in Oakland, was one of many urging fellow demonstrators to stay calm.

"We want to make sure we don't take out our frustrations on shop owners," Hall said. "They are Oscar Grant, too."

Police during the July 8 protest tried a strategy of keeping a distance while protesters vented their anger, then had to swarm and battle with the crowds at nighttime as the demonstrations turned to looting.

This time, police clearly decided to take a firmer hand. Hundreds of officers massed on the major corners downtown and at City Hall, making their presence known and staying close to protesters.

Batts said his forces had contacted about 20 people on the street who he said incited much of the looting in July and urged them to stay peaceful.

"We're going up to them and identifying ourselves," Batts said. Police won't ask anyone to leave "as long as they're out there not bothering anybody," the chief said.

Officers were brought in from as far away as Monterey County and put on standby. Police were also on alert in Berkeley and San Francisco for any potential disturbances in their cities.

Chronicle staff writers Carolyn Jones, Will Kane and Henry K. Lee contributed to this report.

E-mail the writers at mkuruvila@sfchronicle.com and kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

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