From KTVU.COM:
"120 demonstrators were arrested overnight as a march to protest the slaying of a Hayward man by a BART police officer erupted into violence in downtown Oakland. Authorities said 120 people had been arrested in the protest over the fatal New Years Day shooting of Oscar Grant III after a splitter group broke off from the peaceful march and began trashing store fronts, breaking windows, setting fires and damaging at least one patrol car and several other vehicles. Most were cited and released."
“We live a life of fear and we want them to feel fear tonight,” an unnamed demonstrator told KTVU at the height of the violence.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, who had walked to City Hall alongside dozens of protest at the start of the march, called for calm as the demonstration reeled out of control. "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."
The agitated crowd proceeded to throw debris at police officers, destroy property and burn police cars. The family of Oscar Grant, the young man killed by police officer Johannes Mehserle , appealed for calm and beseeched residents to avoid violence and not tarnish the image of her son. The reaction and the outrage of the violent protesters, although misplaced, has developed due to a history of harassment, profiling and disrespect towards the minority populace both perceived and real. At Oscar's funeral over a thousand mourners eulogized Oscar while reflecting positively on his life. At the moment the service was getting under way, the lawyer and union representative for the officer who shot Grant, were submitting his resignation to BART officials. The investigation is still ongoing and we will keep you posted..
Click HERE for more on the story from SFGATE.COM.
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