Oakland, Ca. – Protesters in California set fire to a courtroom, damaged a police station and assaulted officers after a peaceful demonstration escalated on Saturday night, Oakland police said.
Protesters smashed windows, painted graffiti, fired fireworks and laser-targeted officers, the Oakland department said on Twitter. Several tweets called for peace and asked the organizers to “help us provide safe spaces and safe places for protesters.”
The protest started earlier Saturday night with groups like the “Moms Wall,” similar to a group that formed in Portland, Oregon, when protesters clashed with US agents deployed there to protect a federal court. . President Donald Trump had sent federal agents to quell the protests that occurred every night since George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25.
The Oakland protest started peacefully, but turned violent later in the evening. Police declared an “illegal assembly” around 11:30 pm and officers asked the crowd to disperse.
The fire broke out in the Alameda County Superior Court and was contained shortly thereafter, the media reported. Police said protesters at one point were “breaking windows and singing racial slurs to residents.” Photos tweeted by the department showed broken glass and splattered paint in a police building.
