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A San Francisco protest over the death of George Floyd while in police custody that had been peaceful much of Saturday turned ugly shortly before 9 p.m. as looters broke off and began smashing shop windows and looting stores in Union Square and on Market Street.
sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
George Floyd Protest Marchers’ Access to Bay Bridge in SF Blocked by Police
May 30, 2020 at 6:00 pm
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — After a night of violence left San Jose and Oakland battered and shaken, San Francisco officials braced Saturday for their own march as anger continued to rage across the country over the police in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The march organized by the Freedom Socialist Party got underway with a modest gathering around noon at U.N. Plaza. Demonstrators proceeded to march from there to the steps of City Hall where they stood peacefully listening to speakers as their number slowly grew.
Protesters rally at San Francisco city hall, May 30, 2020. (CBS)
Light rain and possible thundershowers that had been forecast for San Francisco on Saturday may have kept the gathering smaller.
Protesters blocked from I-80 access in S.F.
After almost two hours at City Hall, the assembled throng began to move in an orderly march to Market Street and east toward the Ferry Building. There, they turned south and began walking along the Embarcadero then up Harrison Street where they were met with a police line at the intersection of Harrison and Main streets. Diverted, they moved over to Folsom Street and headed southwest, assembling at the I-80 Fremont Street off-ramp where they were again blocked by police.
Moving steadily westward, marchers repeatedly attempted to access the freeway but were turned back by police, and finally appeared to end the attempt as they turned at Fifth Street and headed toward Market Street before turning southwest onto Mission Street at the Old Mint.
By 6 p.m., what was left of the march had gathered outside a police department in the Mission District.
Local residents woke up Saturday, still reeling from the outbreak of violence that erupted from peaceful protests in both Oakland and San Jose on Friday.
Hours of violence in Oakland left at least 18 people in custody early Saturday, six Oakland police officers recovering from their injuries and a downtown Walgreen and CVS pharmacy in shambles after they were looted.
A fatal shooting at Oakland’s large Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse remained under investigation. One federal security officer died in the shooting and a second was wounded.
In an email to KPIX 5 early Saturday, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said it was still to be determined if it was related to the outbreak of violence on the nearby streets.
“Still under investigation, unknown if related,” she emailed.
RELATED: SUV Rams, Injures 2 Demonstrators After Day Of Intense Police Clashes At San Jose George Floyd Protest
After marching peacefully through the streets of Oakland earlier Friday evening, a protest turned disruptive and destructive.
Vandalized cars sit in a Mercedes-Benz of Oakland showroom during in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, May 30, 2020, during protests against the Monday death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man in police custody in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A Walgreens store was broken into and looted. A fire was later lit in the store, one of several garbage can and Dumpster fires that were lit along Broadway. A CVS pharmacy also was looted.
Windows were also broken at a Chase Bank on Broadway. Though plywood had been nailed over the windows earlier, protesters ripped down the wood, smashing windows and vandalizing the building before starting a fire inside.
A Mercedes-Benz dealership also appeared to have been heavily damaged from a fire, as were a number of other offices and business spaces in downtown Oakland. A Honda dealership on Broadway near the MacArthur Freeway and a Target store at Broadway and 27th also sustained significant damage.
Meanwhile in San Jose, a frightening scene unfolded as the driver of an SUV drove into a crowd and appeared to injure two people. The incident was caught on video, and the driver appeared to deliberately back over one victim before speeding off.
It happened around 9 p.m. near the intersection of Sixth Street and Santa Clara, after a day full of demonstrations featuring multiple confrontations between protesters and police in riot gear. At least two people were injured, according to reports. Their condition is still unknown, as was the identity of the driver.
WARNING: Disturbing images.
We were covering the protest in San Jose when this SUV sped up toward crowd then reversed, hitting at least two people.
Video courtesy: Julian Romero
pic.twitter.com/0MeoapW0VD
— Maria Medina (@MariaKPIX)
May 30, 2020
One witness said that a woman was behind the wheel of the SUV and was telling protesters to let her through because she had a child in the vehicle before the incident.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department later tweeted that a deputy was involved in an officer involved shooting at around the same time. It was not confirmed that the officer-involved shooting and hit-and-run incident were related.
On 5/29/2020 at around 9:00pm, one of our deputies was involved in an officer involved shooting in the area of Sixth Street and Santa Clara Street in San Jose. The San Jose Police Department is investigating the incident. Please contact them for further details.
— SantaClaraCoSheriff (@SCCoSheriff)
May 30, 2020
Earlier, police had declared the protest an unlawful assembly, firing tear gas into the crowd of activists following a hectic afternoon of freeway shutdowns and smashed windows.
(CBS)
What began as a peaceful march through downtown, later spilled back onto city streets after activists had earlier shut down busy US Highway 101 in both directions for an hour, smashing windows of police cars and other vehicles during the angry protest march.
After shutting down the freeway, a growing crowd of protesters ended up gathering about a block from San Jose City Hall at the intersection of Seventh and Santa Clara Streets, where a line of police in riot gear stood across from the main group of demonstrators, with some activists coming closer to the officers waving signs and taking video with cell phones.
Police could be seen firing non-lethal projectiles into the crowd that gradually grew in size, numbering upwards of 1,000 people by some estimates.