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BART Shooting Protest Turns Violent
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 – updated: 11:04 pm PST January 7, 2009
OAKLAND, Calif. -- A march protesting the slaying of young Oakland father at the Fruitvale BART station early New Year's Day became violent Wednesday evening as a group of rampaging marchers rioted through downtown.
By 10 p.m., police reported 14 people had been arrested, but footage shot by NewsChopper2 about an hour later revealed a mass arrest at 20th Street and Broadway near the Paramount Theatre that looked to net in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 suspects.
Several people gathered at the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit station Wednesday afternoon for a rally to protest the shooting death of Oscar Grant III at the hands of a transit agency police officer at the station early Jan. 1.
For safety reasons, BART trains are bypassing the Fruitvale station while the protest continues. Organizers said the rally was planned to last until 8 p.m., but by 5:30 a substantial portion of the rally spontaneously started marching through the streets of Oakland towards downtown.
While the majority of the marchers were well behaved, just after 6:30 p.m. a splinter group of protesters started causing trouble at the intersection of 8th Street and Madison not far from the Lake Merritt BART station.
A fire was lit in a dumpster on wheels that was rolled into the middle of the street and swarmed a police car that was nearly tipped over as the angry protestors beat on the vehicle with sticks and rocked it violently back and forth.
Oakland police responded in riot gear, shooting tear gas and approaching the crowd with shields, helmets and batons drawn to force them to disperse. The Oakland Fire Department was quickly able to put out the dumpster fire without event.
Authorities shut down the Lake Merrit BART station for a time during the altercation before the crowd surged toward downtown.
The demonstrators reached the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street, half a block from Oakland City Hall.
A line of police officers kept the crowd from moving toward the civic center. For a time there was a standoff as some demonstrators lay in the street to show their solidarity with the slain BART victim.
Police on loudspeakers told the crowd there would be arrests of people didn't leave. Moments later, another small street fire erupted and police made their move to push the crowd back.
The crowd surged down 14th Street, setting fires in garbage cans and smashing car and store windows along the way.
More than 100 officers faced off with the protestors for about an hour at Broadway and 14th. The group was mostly young people who shouted epithets.
Some of them laid face down on the ground in front of the officers, imitating the position that Grant was in when a BART officer shot him to death last week.
City Councilman Ignacio De la Fuente rushed through the crowd on his way into City Hall.
"It's an incredible tragedy that happened, and obviously that's the reason why we are meeting," explained De la Fuente. "We are meeting so we can see what we can do to make that the people know that we are going to do a fair investigation. Then justice will be done."
As the protesters splintered into smaller groups with police in pursuit, at least two parked vehicles were set on fire, forcing more Fire Department response in the already congested and chaotic area.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums went to the protest scene Wednesday night to urge for calm. He and several council members then led a group toward City Hall and further addressed them.
"Even with our anger and our pain, let's still address each other with a degree of civility and calmness and not make this tragedy an excuse to engage in violence," Dellums said. "I don't want anybody hurt, I don't want anybody killed."
However, many of the demonstrators booed the mayor and decried the incident as yet another case of police brutality
BART Shooting Protest Turns Violent
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 – updated: 11:04 pm PST January 7, 2009
OAKLAND, Calif. -- A march protesting the slaying of young Oakland father at the Fruitvale BART station early New Year's Day became violent Wednesday evening as a group of rampaging marchers rioted through downtown.
By 10 p.m., police reported 14 people had been arrested, but footage shot by NewsChopper2 about an hour later revealed a mass arrest at 20th Street and Broadway near the Paramount Theatre that looked to net in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 suspects.
Several people gathered at the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit station Wednesday afternoon for a rally to protest the shooting death of Oscar Grant III at the hands of a transit agency police officer at the station early Jan. 1.
For safety reasons, BART trains are bypassing the Fruitvale station while the protest continues. Organizers said the rally was planned to last until 8 p.m., but by 5:30 a substantial portion of the rally spontaneously started marching through the streets of Oakland towards downtown.
While the majority of the marchers were well behaved, just after 6:30 p.m. a splinter group of protesters started causing trouble at the intersection of 8th Street and Madison not far from the Lake Merritt BART station.
A fire was lit in a dumpster on wheels that was rolled into the middle of the street and swarmed a police car that was nearly tipped over as the angry protestors beat on the vehicle with sticks and rocked it violently back and forth.
Oakland police responded in riot gear, shooting tear gas and approaching the crowd with shields, helmets and batons drawn to force them to disperse. The Oakland Fire Department was quickly able to put out the dumpster fire without event.
Authorities shut down the Lake Merrit BART station for a time during the altercation before the crowd surged toward downtown.
The demonstrators reached the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street, half a block from Oakland City Hall.
A line of police officers kept the crowd from moving toward the civic center. For a time there was a standoff as some demonstrators lay in the street to show their solidarity with the slain BART victim.
Police on loudspeakers told the crowd there would be arrests of people didn't leave. Moments later, another small street fire erupted and police made their move to push the crowd back.
The crowd surged down 14th Street, setting fires in garbage cans and smashing car and store windows along the way.
More than 100 officers faced off with the protestors for about an hour at Broadway and 14th. The group was mostly young people who shouted epithets.
Some of them laid face down on the ground in front of the officers, imitating the position that Grant was in when a BART officer shot him to death last week.
City Councilman Ignacio De la Fuente rushed through the crowd on his way into City Hall.
"It's an incredible tragedy that happened, and obviously that's the reason why we are meeting," explained De la Fuente. "We are meeting so we can see what we can do to make that the people know that we are going to do a fair investigation. Then justice will be done."
As the protesters splintered into smaller groups with police in pursuit, at least two parked vehicles were set on fire, forcing more Fire Department response in the already congested and chaotic area.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums went to the protest scene Wednesday night to urge for calm. He and several council members then led a group toward City Hall and further addressed them.
"Even with our anger and our pain, let's still address each other with a degree of civility and calmness and not make this tragedy an excuse to engage in violence," Dellums said. "I don't want anybody hurt, I don't want anybody killed."
However, many of the demonstrators booed the mayor and decried the incident as yet another case of police brutality
