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Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Protests over Calif. train shooting turn violent OAKLAND, Calif. - Protests over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer turned violent Wednesday night as demonstrators smashed windows, set fire to several cars and blocked streets. A few hundred protesters took the streets of downtown Oakland to condemn the shooting and call for criminal charges against 27-year-old officer Johannes Mehserle. Oakland police arrested at least 105 protesters on charges that included assault on a police officer, looting, vandalism, arson and drug possession, the Oakland Tribune reported Thursday. Story continues below [5;advertisement | your ad here Mehserle resigned from the transit agency shortly before he was supposed to be interviewed by investigators Wednesday. He has not yet explained why he fatally shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward as he lay face-down on a BART station platform on New Year's Day. New Year's Day shooting Police said Mehserle was one of several officers responding to reports about groups of men fighting on a train. Grant, a supermarket worker, was unarmed when he was shot in the back, according to police. The Alameda County coroner's office said Wednesday that the bullet fired by Mehserle apparently went through him and ricocheted off the concrete platform before re-entering his body. It was the ricochet wound to the torso that caused Grant's death, it said. Protesters gathered in the afternoon at the Fruitvale BART station where the shooting occurred. It was peaceful at first but began to turn nasty after a splinter group left that site and marched downtown. Protesters set fire to a trash container and tried to overturn a police car, smashing the front window. Police attempted to disperse the crowd and smaller groups of protesters marched to different areas. Some protesters threw bottles, smashing a window of a fast-food restaurant and other downtown stores. At least three cars were set on fire and many other automobiles were damaged. Many protesters expressed anger and frustration at the police and what they called society's racial injustice. But as the demonstrations continued, the mob frequently targeted the business, cars and homes of people without regard to race, the San Francisco Chronicle reported early Thursday. One such shop was Creative African Braids in Oakland. "This is our business," Leemu Topka, the black owner of the salon, shouted at the demonstrators, the Chronicle reported on its Web site. "This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?" Police in riot gear threw tear gas to try to break up the demonstration. "The crowd started to become more agitated, more hostile, started throwing stuff at the police," Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said. "We gave a dispersal order four to five times over a 20-minute period, then we had our officers go in and start making arrests." Calls for calm Earlier, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, a longtime congressman, went to the protest scene to urge demonstrators to remain calm. He and several council members then led a group toward City Hall and again addressed them. "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." Grant's family has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against BART and want prosecutors to file criminal charges against Mehserle. BART spokesman Linton Johnson told the Chronicle that transit officials had expected to hear Mehserle’s account of the shooting on Wednesday. But instead, the officer's attorney and the president of BART's police union appeared and gave officials a short resignation letter from the BART officer. "We were prepared to compel him to talk, but he resigned," Johnson told the newspaper. "We're going to continue the investigation, with or without him. ... There are many investigations that go on without the key person." The Chronicle, quoting a source familiar with the investigation, also reported that BART is looking into whether Mehserle mistook his service weapon for a Taser stun gun, among many other possibilities. Oakland police, meanwhile, were bracing for another protest on Thursday outside BART headquarters. The Oakland Tribune reported that the department planned to put additional officers clad in riot gear on the streets in an effort to prevent a repeat of Wednesday's violence.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#3. To: PSUSA (#0)
Misdirected energy. They should kill BART cops and leave their community property alone.
#4. To: X-15 (#3)
Exactly. Someone may still do that.
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