Tear Gas Deployed As Protesters Smash Windows, Shut Down Highway In East Bay Demonstrations
BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- Protests turned destructive as demonstrators marched in Berkeley Sunday evening, following a night of violent clashes with police Saturday night.
The demonstration began at Telegraph and Durant streets around 5 p.m., said Officer Jennifer Coats.
Reports and photos on Twitter showed demonstrators standing in front of buses and blocking traffic. Protester Francesca Rivera said she estimated 200 people were marching on Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way.
Several streets around the area of Highway 24 and 52nd Street in Oakland were blocked by heavy police presence during the protest, bringing traffic to a halt.
The California Highway Patrol tweeted that an explosive was thrown at officers and that gas had been deployed. Protesters were also throwing rocks at officers.
Protesters Sunday night could be heard yelling, "Fist up, Fight back," and "Turn it up, don't turn it down. Shut it down for Michael Brown."
The windows of a Radioshack store on Shattuck Avenue and Dwight Way were broken during the demonstration. Berkeley police reported that someone was assaulted while attempting to stop vandalism and looting at that store.
"One protester was trying to stop another protester from looting and he was struck with a hammer," Berkeley police Officer Jennifer Coats said, adding the man was transported to the hospital with injuries not considered life threatening.
Saturday's protest left one officer hospitalized, and ended with six demonstrators in police custody.
Police said a small group of protesters started hurling bricks, pipes, smoke grenades and other items at officers.
The protest, one of several in the Bay Area over the past few nights, was in response to a New York grand jury's decision on Wednesday to not indict a white police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man.
