Oakland Marchers Shut Down Freeway in Protest of Police Violence

A massive protest against police violence swept through downtown Oakland on Thursday evening, with hundreds of marchers taking over the Nimitz Freeway and shutting it down virtually all night in both directions.

Many in the crowd, which appeared to number in the thousands, expressed anger at fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota earlier this week.

"It’s bad. It’s just a horrible feeling," said a man who gave his name as Q. George. He said the bombardment of online videos involving the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Minnesota this week was hard to bear.

"Just to know that that goes on and then they don’t get prosecuted afterward," he said. "They might get arrested, and they might even get put on trial, but they don’t get convicted. Justice is not served."

Demonstrators also voiced their anger over a sexual exploitation scandal involving dozens of officers from multiple police agencies and the teenage daughter of an OPD dispatcher.

"To the Oakland Police Department, we charge you as guilty," the Rev. Ben McBride of Berkeley told a swelling crowd gathered outside OPD headquarters. "Guilty of murder. We charge you of guilty of being human traffickers. We charge you as guilty for acting like peacemakers when you’ve been operating like terrorists."

McBride and others at the front of the crowd poured red paint on the Police Department's glass doors. Later in the evening, some demonstrators sprayed graffiti across the OPD building and a set of doors to the building were smashed.

Oakland has seen a quick succession of three police chiefs in June as news reports revealed that Oakland officers allegedly had sex with an underage woman exploited in the sex trade.

Exie Adams, from Davis, explained why she made the trip to Oakland.

"As a black person and as a black woman, understanding the issue and prevalence of police killing, understanding how it's affected my community, how could I not come?" Adams said. She added she was outraged and disappointed over the involvement of so many law enforcement officers from multiple agencies in sexual exploitation.

Marchers chanted "black lives matter" and "no justice, no peace, no racist police," as they left Frank Ogawa Plaza and moved down Broadway to the Police Department

Several hundred marchers walked up the off-ramp at the intersection of Sixth Street and Broadway shortly after 8:30 p.m. to get up onto the Nimitz Freeway, bringing traffic to a complete halt in both directions. Some protesters set off fireworks, played music and sat with arms linked to block cars. Some drivers expressed support for the demonstrators by honking along with their chants.

The California Highway Patrol reported the freeway reopened shortly before 3 a.m.

McBride spoke to reporters on Interstate 880.

"We are here on the freeway, shutting it down, calling for Mayor Libby Schaaf and [Alameda County District Attorney] Nancy O'Malley to come out here," he said. "The people have demands for them."

McBride said O'Malley should charge the officers involved in sexual exploitation and that Schaaf should fire them. He also called for more information about the investigations to be made public through a truth and reconciliation process.

The Oakland protest is one of many that took place across the United States after the fatal police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota.

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