[Oakland] Hundreds in the Streets Protest BART Shooting

re-posted from Oakland Tribune: Inside Bay Area, 01/07/09

Hundreds Gather on Oakland Streets to Protest BART Shooting

OAKLAND — Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has come on the scene, he was surrounded by dozens of protesters and talking with officers trying to quell the situation.

At least 50 police are on scene wearing gas masks, and Oakland's Tactical Operations Team is also on scene but has not been deployed, according to a Tribune reporter on scene.

Property damage has begun to occur, as some windows of businesses have been smashed. The majority of the protesters have been peaceful, but a small group has caused the problems. Traffic is blocked off between Broadway and 13th Street, as well as problems breaking out around Franklin Street near 13th.

The demonstrators from a protest against the fatal BART police shooting of Oscar Grant III took to Oakland streets Wednesday night, lighting fire to a Dumpster near 8th and Madison streets and prompting police to shut down the Fruitvale and Lake Merritt BART stations.

Protesters rammed the Dumpster against a police car, bashing in the front and back windows and denting the passenger side.

Scores of police, including BART police, Oakland Police Department and officers from the Housing Authority responded in special helmets for added protection.

Earlier at the demonstration, Grant's younger sister, Audrena Gilbert, said former officer Johannes Mehserle, who appears in cell phone videos apparently drawing his gun and shooting at an unarmed, restrained Grant on New Year's Day, has not talked to the bereaved family.

"I want him to start. I want him to apologize for what he did," Gilbert, a 19-year-old Oakland woman, said. "I want him to tell the truth, why he shot him, what he shot him for. That's all I want."

The protest was led by speakers for the Coalition Against Police Executions and drew a crowd police estimated as 500 people.

"It's not enough the officer resigned today," said Sean Dugar, president of the California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Youth and College Division. "We demand he be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. ... We shut down one BART station this afternoon. Let's do another one next week."