Advertisement
Advertisement

Police hit with bottles, rocks; 6 arrested

San Diego protesters also twice blocked freeway in City Heights

Share

Hundreds of demonstrators marching in response to a grand jury decision not to indict a police officer in the fatal shooting of a Missouri teenager twice blocked a freeway in City Heights Tuesday night, later moving to nearby streets, where some threw bottles and rocks at San Diego police officers.

Several officers were struck by rocks and full water bottles and suffered minor injuries, and one officer was spit on, San Diego police Acting Capt. Keith Lucas said. In addition, a California Highway Patrol officer was struck with a rock and spit on, he said. Lucas said he did not know the extent of that officer's injuries.

Six protesters were arrested, one for throwing rocks at officers, one for inciting the crowd and leading them onto the freeway, and four for unlawful assembly, Lucas said.

The marchers first went onto the northbound freeway, known as state Route 15 in the Mid-City area, about 8 p.m. near University Avenue. Scores of them gathered near the Wightman Street overpass, prompting police to declare an unlawful assembly. Some were walking between vehicles whose drivers were caught in the protest.

Officers quickly got them to move, and the protesters headed to University Avenue.

About 9 p.m., the huge crowd swelled on University near 41st Street. Officers were heard saying “hold the line, hold the line,” as some in the crowd became violent and began tossing water bottles. Police formed a line across University.

Some of the demonstrators sat down on University at Fairmount Avenue, and police moved in a line toward them. One man was screaming expletives at officers, while a woman near him shouted “Keep it peaceful!”

By 9:30 p.m., the crowd had thinned to about 100 protesters who had moved to El Cajon Boulevard near Fairmount. Some pounded on a bus as they walked.

About 30 minutes later, the crowd headed back onto the freeway, blocking both northbound and southbound lanes near El Cajon Boulevard. A U.S. flag was seen burning on the freeway exit.

The freeway was again quickly cleared by police.

About 75 people were still marching after midnight, having walked from City Heights to downtown San Diego. Shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday, they gathered in front of the Hall of Justice on Broadway and held a rally, then left in small groups.

View the photo gallery: Locals protest Ferguson decision

The City Heights demonstration was one of two planned Tuesday night in San Diego. The other, which was downtown, was peaceful.

The marchers said they were angry about the decision by the grand jury not to file criminal charges against white Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death in August in Ferguson, Mo., of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

About 300 marchers gathered downtown about 5:30 p.m. and walked on sidewalks from the federal courthouse to the Hall of Justice several blocks away, then repeated the route before ending with a rally.

The demonstration in City Heights began about 6 p.m. with hundreds of people carrying posters marching around the Mid-City police station and several nearby commercial blocks.

At both locations, marchers protested what they said was a justice system that treats people of color by a different standard than white people. They shouted several chants as they walked, including “Hands up! Don’t shoot!" Many held their arms up.

People of various races and backgrounds spoke of the systemic problems that plague blacks and Latinos, and, especially, black men.

One woman, Toni Harriel-Jackson, said black boys are put on a track from school to prison, which starts when teachers don’t understand them and view them as threats. Poverty, unemployment, jailed parents, drugs and suspicion from police all contribute to the kind of racism and police violence that confronts black men in America today, she said.

“It’s like open season on black males, and it has to stop,” she added.

Gail Jennings, 60, lives in City Heights. She said the country’s race relations problem is old — “it’s been going on for centuries” — but it’s never been worse than today.

Racism isn’t innate, she added. It’s taught. She hopes future generations will know better.

“You always have hope. You pray. All the time,” she said.

Advertisement