Editor’s Note: Protests over the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day, for which former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle has been charged with murder, have been regular events in Oakland, including one scheduled for tomorrow and another on Valentine’s Day. Here’s an on-the-ground account of last week’s event.
Text and photos by Joe Sciarrillo
On Friday, Jan. 30, a group of up to fifty protesters gathered to denounce the Alameda County Superior Court’s decision to set a $3 million bail for BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, who was charged with murdering the unarmed Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day. Nine people were arrested, compared to the previous Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 protests, when 105 and 18 were arrested, respectively.
At approximately 3:30pm during Friday’s protest, the group led by activists from CAPE (Coalition Against Police Executions) made its way from the Alameda County Superior Court to the downtown intersection of 14th Street and Broadway in Oakland. A member of CAPE hopped onto an idle AC Transit bus with a megaphone, pleading with protesters to intensify their actions. “The Black Panthers took a stand for something!” he said. “We gotta take a stand!”