Protests in Oakland peaceful tonight

By Staff Report

published: Sat, 26 Sep, 2009

In a change of pace, about 40 people peacefully protested Saturday night.

A group of college-aged people met in Schenley Plaza around 10 p.m. to protest the way police had acted during demonstrations the two nights before.

The protesters stood in the park talking or playing hackey sack until about 10:50 p.m., when they began walking down Forbes Avenue chanting “No justice. No peace. F*ck the police.”

From Forbes they traveled up Meyran Avenue, down Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard and then back onto Forbes Avenue, stopping in front of the Pitt Police substation by David Lawrence Hall.

One of the demonstrators, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs student Anne Marie Toccket, said the crowd protested not only the police officers’ use of force on Thursday and Friday but also how the police intimidated peaceful demonstrators.

“We’ve all heard the anecdotes that the police were misbehaving,” she said.

Toccket said she recognized a lot of the demonstrators Saturday from her classes and that she was pleased with the turnout.

“I think it takes a lot more courage to come down when the numbers are small,” she said.

There were about eight demonstrators who put masks on their faces for part of the march.

The demonstrators confronted the suspected undercover police officers in front of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum.

A few dozen Pitt and city police officers watched the march, most without riot gear. When the demonstrators stopped at the substation, about eight officers in riot gear came out of police vehicles. The demonstrators left for Schenley Plaza, and the demonstration fizzled out by midnight.