Farreaching protests demand justice
Big crowds of all ages rally in S.F., Oakland, Vallejo
A crowd marches on the Interstate 880 offramp at Broadway on Sunday after a rally for racial justice outside Oakland police headquarters. A day after huge protests across the country, sunny weather drew crowds out again in cities around the Bay Area, with children protesting in Oakland and demonstrators pulling a coffin representing black people killed by police during a march in Vallejo. In San Francisco, protesters marched to North Beach.
A day after huge peaceful protests nationwide, demonstrations continued unabated across the Bay Area.
In Oakland, people gathered in front of the city’s Police Department headquarters as organizers built a memorial to George Floyd (killed last month while in Minneapolis police custody), Tony McDade (killed by police in Tallahassee, Fla.) and Breonna Taylor (shot by police in her home in Louisville, Ky.)
Shortly after noon, the gathering had grown so large that it spilled into the street and stopped southbound traffic on Broadway from Seventh Street to the Nimitz Freeway.
The protests bringing attention to police brutality and systemic racism have expanded in the Bay Area and have grown so large that they sometimes overlap. The demonstration at the entrance to Oakland’s Police Department played out simultaneously with a caravan that started just blocks away.
The demonstrations are also pulling in an increasingly broad demographic. At 2 p.m, Children’s Fairyland in Oakland converted into a rally point at the start of a peaceful march.
In solidarity with the SF Kids Peace March across the bay, East Bay children followed a drummer from the entrance of the play area and circled Lake Merritt.
Children in strollers and on scooters, monitored by parents, posed in front of a “Happily Ever After” sign before starting the march. The crowd was so large that a second line had to start: one from the Fairyland entrance and another that stretched down Grand Avenue by the scores.
In San Francisco, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of Marina Middle School in the early afternoon. Organizers said the march would spread the message of police reform to the northern part of the city, which has seen fewer gatherings.
People chanted, “No justice, no peace,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “vote him out,” in reference to President Trump.
The peaceful protest reached a North Beach police station and the crowd took a knee around 3:30 p.m.
Janice Wood, a North Beach resident, said she was surprised by the strong turnout. “I had no idea it’d be so big,” said Wood, who also attended a City Hall rally and plans to go again Tuesday. “I feel like as a white person it’s important to show up.” She was holding a sign that said “Breonna,” for Breonna Taylor. Wood, 73, was encouraged that most protesters were wearing masks due to the pandemic. Wood also said there was a clear difference between nonviolent protesters and looters. “I feel very safe,” she said.
Brittany Diaz, a San Francisco resident, said the march was peaceful and felt less tense than protests last week, when attendees stood near police in riot gear. On Sunday, a handful of police cars and motorcycles followed the marchers. The name of the protest, “Silence Enables Violence,” was a message to keep showing up, she said.
“If at this point you’re not vocal you’re not speaking, I take it as a stance,” she said.
In Vallejo on Saturday afternoon, hundreds of people — some pulling a coffin representing black people killed by police — marched to the waterfront in a Black Lives Matter demonstration. Police were nowhere to be seen.
The National Guard has pulled out of Vallejo, city spokeswoman Brittany Jackson said Sunday. It’s part of a statewide move to pull the Guard out of cities where they’ve been deployed for nearly a week, amid violence and looting during the early days of protests after George Floyd’s death.
“After nearly a week assisting civil authorities on the streets of California, soldiers with the California National Guard will begin transitioning back to their home armories,” the Cal Guard said in a statement on Sunday. A timeline for the pullout was not provided. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti said some troops would begin departing Sunday evening.
Nationwide, protests continued as Floyd’s body arrived in Texas for a third and final memorial service, according to Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. A service and burial is planned for Tuesday in Pearland, a Houston suburb.
In Minneapolis, a majority of City Council members said Sunday that they support disbanding the city’s Police Department.