Oakland Erupts In Riots

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OAKLAND (GaeaTimes.com)- More than 100 protesters were arrested following the violence on the streets of Oakland after the news of the Mehserle sentencing broke out. The protesters marched from downtown Oakland to a residential area where the mob smashed more than a dozen cars’ windshields and there were even reports of a police officer’s gun being snatched. The march headed towards the south of Lake Merritt area after participating in the peaceful demonstrations in downtown Oakland.

The peaceful rally held outside the City Hall in Oakland saw the protesters singing songs and denouncing the sentencing of Johannes Mehserle being handed out earlier in the day on Friday. Demonstrators felt that the 2 year sentence for the BART police officer accused of shooting an unarmed Oscar Grant was too lenient a punishment for the crime. Several protesters in the rally said that they were heading towards the Fruitvale BART station where Oscar Grant was shot by Johannes Mehserle. Once the news of their direction spread, the BART officials closed off the station and allowed trains to pass by without stopping.

The situation began to get ugly once one of the protesters snatched the upholster holding a gun from a police officer. Though he was surrounded quickly by the other officers, it gave an opportunity for the Oakland Police chief Anthony Batts to call the march an unlawful assembly and soon the police officers starting making the arrests. The crowd was cleared before 9pm and more than 100 arrests were made in total. The demonstrations began to turn ugly, in spite of starting off as a non-violent march when it became clear that Johannes Mehserle could be out of prison in less than a year.