SAN JOSE – Hundreds of people gathered in San Jose and Oakland on Friday night to protest the Wisconsin police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times by Kenosha police Officer Rusten Sheskey on Sunday. He survived the shooting but was left paralyzed from the waist down.
The protests, which also coincided with the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, are the latest to draw attention to police brutality. Bay Area cities also saw protests earlier this year following the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the fatal California Highway Patrol shooting of Erik Salgado in Oakland.
In San Jose, protesters gathered at City Hall and marched through the streets carrying signs and chanting slogans. They also went to Mayor Sam Liccardo’s home, where one person was caught on camera spray-painting graffiti across the front door.
Demonstrators spray paint over San José Mayor Sam Liccardo’s house.
Several protesters and organizers at the scene came up to me and said they “don’t agree with this.” #BlackLivesMatter @SJSpotlight pic.twitter.com/z4iRmrau6b
— Luke Johnson (@Scoop_Johnson) August 29, 2020
About 250 people took to the streets in Oakland. Around 11 p.m., police said a group was blocking the intersection at 14th Street and Broadway, and “officers were advising the group to leave the roadway.”
Usually judge the protest by the number of helicopters above Oakland. Today, just the spotter plane up high. Not that high, because low clouds, smoke from the fires, fog. Lotta car dealerships on Broadway… https://t.co/wzKQp5bdUa
— AIIeleAIleIinfantry (@3502zippo) August 29, 2020
More than a dozen people were arrested, including one on suspicion of pointing a laser at an officer, police said.
Appox 250 people took part in a protests Friday night. OPD made more than a dozen arrests for various crimes including assault on an officer pointing a laser at police and a news crew. The crowd has dispersed and roadways are open. pic.twitter.com/jyTrjlAtIq
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) August 29, 2020
Lasers were also allegedly pointed at officers at a protest in Oakland on Wednesday. In addition, “agitators in the crowd” smashed windows and set fires, including one inside the Alameda County Superior Court building at 1225 Fallon St., police said.
Back in San Jose on Friday, Liccardo’s neighbors helped him scrub away the graffiti.
“If they are really this angry, they need to find a better way to deal with it than taking it out on innocent individuals,” said Amy Glazman about the protesters. “And, yes, people have a right to be angry because things are screwed up right now, but this is the wrong way to do it.”
Liccardo declined to speak with a reporter at the scene, saying only, “I got the best neighbors in the world.”
Check back for updates.
