Downtown Oakland Erupts Wednesday January 7, 2009 Part1

Wednesday January 7, 2009
Oakland police made more than 100 arrests Wednesday night during an unruly demonstration spurred by the Jan. 1 shooting death of Oscar Grant III at the hands of a transit agency police officer, and protesters are planning another demonstration Thursday.

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 Merritt 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.

Music by lucky dube

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Oscar
• Grant
• III
• Johannes
• Mehserle
• oakland
• police
• violence
• riots
• riot
• bart
• protest
• january
• 7th
• wednesday
• shooting
• victim

[blueyedwahine]

If the cop was black would this be anything but back page news? I doubt race had anything to do with it, looked like the cop was panicky and didnt know what to do.

[triadfreedom]

THIS IS NOT A RACIAL ISSUE.

This is a HUMAN RIGHTS issue, and a constitutional issue.

The police are only instituted by our people, as we are the ultimate courts. It is time to stop thinking everything is going to be alright and wake up to the scam that is being run on us by our own government.

WAKE UP AMERICA. WE ARE ALL AMERICANS HERE.

[daddysoulmanrich]

@hardcorenyc  lol

[hardcorenyc]

Niggers ruin everything

[ManoftheBeret]

Oscar Grant can't go anywhere ever again. Quit whining about your fucking gym.

[srt8rider]

fuck the police burn that shit down

[sfbay22]

Oakland again in Riots. I grew up in stuck up boring white suburbia on the other side of the tunnel, now I live in downtown oakland and I see the anger is thug culture with no regard for time, money and humanity. I cant wait to get the heck out of here, and let the blacks kill themselves. They officially deserve it - I cant go to my gym tomorrow because a bunch of blacks broke windows, this is SO what the blacks do. Go to school, get a job, and quit acting like a bunch of niggers.

[Calracer21]

No the cop is not rasict, but of cource you want to believe he was. Typical, everything is about race. Go tell it to Obama LOL.

[ryan9942]

The cop is a racist for killing the guy

[CZARVII]

You just wanna have "fun and Play sports"

Typical stupid little bitch living in fantasy land.