Some arrests, little violence in night of California protests

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Protests against the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin returned to California’s streets with small crowds marching in several cities. But there were few arrests, and no reports of major violence, authorities said Saturday.

More demonstrations were planned weekend.

In Oakland, about 250 people marched and rode bicycles through downtown and blocked streets before dispersing by midnight. Police arrested more than a dozen people for crimes, including assault on an officer, as well as

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the pointing a laser at police and at a television news crew, the Oakland Police Department said in a tweet.

Some chanted: “Whose streets? Our streets” and “No ICE, Black and brown must be free,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

At one point, the paper said police deployed smoke bombs into a crowd. A police officer who declined to identify himself to the Chronicle said protesters were assaulting officers who were trying to make arrests.

Police had increased staffing for the protest.

On Wednesday night, protesters set fires, broke windows and vandalized businesses.

In San Jose, a crowd spray-painted graffiti on Mayor Sam Liccardo’s home with phrases that included “BLM,” Jacob Blake and profanities, fired paintballs and burned a flag. His neighbors quickly banded together to clean Liccardo’s home.

Liccardo said in a statement Saturday he was away visiting a relative at the time of the incident. The mayor said the vandalism does not detract from his support of the Black Lives Matter movement.