The recent grand jury decisions on crimes involving white police officers killing unarmed black men have left America beaten and bruised when it comes to race relations, the trust of law enforcement, and the trust of others. Protests and demonstrations have popped up all across the country calling out for justice.
Imagine this: Wednesday night, about 150 protesters (a smaller crowd than usual) headed from the University of California-Berkeley and protested and demonstrated without harm or incident before marching into Oakland, said the City of Oakland in a statement. By the time the protesters had reached Oakland, their numbers came down to about 50. The statement goes on to say that a T-Mobile and a Chase bank were broken into, and looting was also reported at several small businesses.
Unless you have been in the heart of a night demonstration before, it’s hard to imagine what exactly it could look like. The surrealness of the massive amounts of people that have joined together for a cause, being watched and monitored by police, guns and smoke and the threat of imprisonment swelling around you like a balloon.
A Reuters photographer witnessed a moment like this turning hectic, fast. An undercover police officer pulls out a pistol after he and his partner were?threatened by some demonstrators. He begins to point his gun and yell at them, and they cower backwards.
During prior demonstrations, police have fired tear gas and pepper spray at protesters, that some of which have thrown stones at the police.
Protesters also managed to shut down two subway stations in the Bay Area, and I-80 in Berkeley. You can see a video of that below.
The fire hasn’t been stomped out yet, and it won’t be anytime soon. Protesters are still out fighting for a cause that is more important now than ever.
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