35 arrested in Oakland after Ferguson protest march
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Protesters marched from Frank Ogawa Plaza at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening in the third such event this week responding to a grand jury's decision to not indict Ferguson, Missouri, Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9.
Police quickly herded the group, which was smaller Wednesday than in the previous two nights, through downtown Oakland streets, forcing them to constantly move. Some demonstrators ran as police jogged behind yelling "Move, move, move."
Others walked with their hands up, shouting to their fellow protesters, "Don't run" and to the police, "Hands up, don't shoot."
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Some were vandalizing businesses, smashing windows and spray-painting walls.
The group marched through West Oakland. At the Grand ARCO ampm gas station, demonstrators smashed through a window, enraging some residents.
"What's that going to change?" said West Oakland resident Raymond Lindsey. "It's going to make it worse. My mother comes to this store, my sister comes here. These people probably don't even live here."
Although many of the protesters said they were from Oakland, some said they had come in from Davis or Palo Alto to join in the melee. Davis resident Sabrina Clark, 18, said nothing was happening in her town and she wanted to join in on the historic moment.
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"My father is 80 years old, and he marched with (Martin Luther King Jr.) in Detroit," Clark said. "Right here, we're living in history right now. I wanted to be part of that."
As the protesters headed from West Oakland to downtown, police herded the group along, separating them from each other and thinning their ranks.
For several hours, the group tried to maintain form while attempting to reconvene at Frank Ogawa Plaza. The police were not far behind and formed lines across the street to block them in.
At one point, the protesters and police got into a verbal confrontation. An officer raised his baton against the protester and the protesters swarmed, shouting obscenities into officers' faces as they looked another way.
Eventually, the officer put his baton down and the protesters dispersed. As the protesters moved from the confrontation and back onto the street, multiple officers arrested a man by tackling him to the ground.
Around 11 p.m., when only two to three dozen protesters remained, the police blocked the group in on both sides and only let people leave one or two at a time.
Nearby, dozens were arrested during a sideshow at the Port of Oakland.
PHOTOS: Dozens arrested after sideshow in Oakland.
35 people had been arrested for a variety of crimes linked to the protests as of 2 a.m. this morning, according to Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson.
Police have arrested over 150 people within the past three nights of protest on suspicion of charges including looting, vandalism, assault, failure to disperse, obstruction and obstructing a highway.
For full coverage on the Ferguson protests, click here.
