Slideshow Oscar Grant III Riot A riot broke out in the streets of Oakland after t... Despite weeks of planning and anticipation, hopes that the city would remain peaceful in the wake of the verdict of the former BART police officer who shot and killed an unarmed passenger last year were extinguished by looting rioters who marauded the streets of Downtown Oakland Thursday night. Anger and frustration were palpable among the hundreds who gathered in Downtown Oakland following a Los Angeles jury's verdict of involuntary manslaughter in the trial of Johannes Mehserle, the police officer who fatally shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant III on New Year's Day 2009. While the throngs of protesters that initially flooded Frank Ogawa Plaza around 4 p.m. engaged in passionate but non-violent debate about the verdict, plans for the evening's protest remained vague early on - some called for an open rebellion against police, while others championed a mediated discussion among demonstrators. By the time the night was over, both sides had gotten what they wanted. Initial outbursts of anger among the crowd - including surrounding an AC Transit bus and battering several police vehicles - were quelled by dozens of speakers advocating for peace during a two hour rally at the intersection of 14th Street and Broadway. "Get out there and do what you got to do - protest, (but) protest righteous - don't come out here fighting," said Grant's grandfather, Oscar Julius Grant II, to a crowd of hundreds gathered at the rally. "Don't dishonor my grandson's death by coming out here and tearing up Oakland." Despite calls for peace, when the rally ended at 8 p.m., tensions within the crowd rose as some demonstrators began trashing nearby businesses. A Subway sandwich shop, a Foot Locker and the Far East National Bank were among the victims of the crowd's first wave of destruction which resulted in the arrest of dozens at the intersection of 14th and Broadway by police from the Oakland Police Department. Following the first wave of arrests, hundreds marched down Broadway, continuing to smash cars, break into stores and ignite trash cans until police fired volleys of tear gas canisters at them. According to Oakland police, around 80 were arrested by night's end. "This city is not the wild, wild west," Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts said at a press conference Thursday evening. As Tensions Rise, Protestors Separate The crowd's response to the verdict of involuntary manslaughter - punishable by between two to four years in state prison - was divided. Shortly after a bicyclist stopped an AC Transit bus attempting to pass through the intersection of 14th and Broadway, Oakland police officials addressed the crowd from a loudspeaker mounted on a nearby all-terrain vehicle (ATV). After surrounding the ATV and chasing it out of the intersection, the protesters rushed a police SUV and began to yell at officers outside the vehicle. The crowd then surrounded an approaching police car and began kicking it in order to force it out of the area. As the car was backing up toward the intersection of 12th Street and Broadway, its left rear wheel ran over an unidentified woman's foot, prompting some in the crowd to intensify their assault on the car as it left the scene. Riot police spread themselves across Broadway at 11th Street as a crowd of about 200 stood opposite them, angered over the incident. "You hit a woman with a car, that's a hit and run," Oakland resident and protest organizer Evan Shamar said to police through a bullhorn. "Just because you have a badge doesn't mean you can murder and break the law." Simultaneously, about 300 gathered two blocks away, at 14th and Broadway to attend the rally. Oakland resident Veronyca Redmond, 24, said while the two groups were not interacting, they were there for a similar purpose. "What we're here to focus on is the positive and not the negative," she said standing among those on the stage. "We're doing our thing, they're doing their thing. It's really about Oscar Grant today." Members of Critical Resistance, an organization opposing the prison-industrial complex, carried signs depicting the names and faces of people who have been "murdered by cops in the Bay Area," according to Campaign Director Lisa Marie Alatorre. "We haven't come together yet to address this larger system of policing," she said. "For us, it is a matter of wanting to push the conversation past just Mehserle." With Rally's End, Chaos Ensues After the stage was dismantled at 8 p.m., the crowd spread itself up and down Broadway while police declared an unlawful assembly telling the crowd there to disperse into Frank Ogawa Plaza. Protesters then broke into a Foot Locker near the intersection of 14th and Broadway throwing shoes and clothing into the crowd and setting at least one trash can ablaze. Spray-painted phrases including "Off the Pigs", "Involuntary Property Destruction" and "Riot for Oscar" covered walls, windows and pavement throughout Downtown Oakland. Violence escalated throughout the evening with sporadic moments of chaos erupting amidst long periods of calm as police made efforts to clear the area of rioters. As officers from the OPD, Alameda County Sheriff's Office and California Highway Patrol progressively moved the dwindling mob north on Broadway as some rioters lit several trash cans and four dumpsters on fire in a line across Broadway at 19th Street. At 9:55 p.m., street lights went out between 16th and 20th Streets on Broadway as members of the crowd set off fireworks and police officers fired tear gas canisters. Power returned shortly before going out again five minutes later. The crowd proceeded to a Sears department store on Telegraph Avenue and 20th, kicking in windows as people ran, ambulances drove through the streets and cars and buses fled the area. After the crowd turned to looting and vandalism many began to question the direction the protest had taken. Sellassie Blackwell, 33, came to the protest urging nonviolence among Bay Area youth. Blackwell, a San Francisco hip-hop artist who was present at the riots initially following Grant's death, wanted to avoid the violent escalation caused by outside groups that had marked the January 2009 riot. "I'm not here to riot, I'm not here to yell, I'm not here to talk to reporters - I am here for Oscar," he said after the initial arrests began. "I came here to make sure people keep Oscar Grant in mind - there are still people here with Oscar in mind."
