Despite protest that ran past curfew, Oakland police make no arrests

OAKLAND, Calif. - The city of Oakland made sure to let community members know that police made zero arrests Tuesday night at two peaceful protests, one which went past the 8 p.m. curfew.

In a statement, city spokeswoman Karen Boyd said the two demonstrations to mourn the death of George Floyd, as well as decry systemic racism and police brutality, yielded no handcuffs, citations or tear gas. 

SIGN UP FOR KTVU’S NEWSLETTER HERE

"Oakland was the site of two peaceful demonstrations that exemplified our city’s long tradition of raising community voices in protest without violence, destruction or mayhem," the statement read.  

Oakland police deploy tear gas, arrest 100 people following youth march

The city's comments came after what happened on Monday night, when 100 people were arrested following a youth-led march.

Near the end of the rally, 20 minutes before the 8 p.m. curfew, police shot tear gas into a crowd who had gathered at 8th and Broadway, about a block away from the police station.

At a news conference Monday, Deputy Chief Leronne Armstrong defended the actions, saying that people had been "preparing Molotov cocktails" and were throwing rocks and bottles at officers. 

A young witness at the scene, Samuel Getachew, 17, however, said he witnessed no such threats to police. The Oakland Tech graduate said he ended up getting some tear gas in his eyes. 

One of the Tuesday protests began at 5 p.m., where people marched peacefully around the Fruitvale District before returning to their starting point at about 6:15 p.m.  At its largest, this group numbered about 150 people, people said.  

A second group began gathering at approximately 4:20 p.m. near the Oakland police headquarters. They marched around downtown Oakland on 8th Street, Oak Street, 17th Street and Broadway to reach Frank H. Ogawa Plaza.

Infectious disease specialists call for an end to tear gas during COVID-19 pandemic

At that point, many people went home, the city said, but about 100 others continued walking in front of police headquarters. The group faced off with police, many who had come from other agencies and who were wearing riot gear.

ACLU calls for an end to curfews around the Bay Area

However, despite high tensions, the protesters remained peaceful and the police did not deploy any tear gas or other non-lethal weapons. The protesters were there until about 10 p.m. This protest was broadcast around the world; CNN did a live report from the scene. 

In a statement, Interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer recognized that the protesters were out past curfew. 

But she said she recognized they were exercising their First Amendment rights.

The ACLU has challenged curfews, saying they give police too much discretion on who to arrest. 

Mahheimer added: “The curfew is a flexible tool that will be applied with discretion when dealing with crowds that create public safety threats or that require extraordinary resources after dark." 

In addition to no arrests or reports of violence, there were also no reports of looting. 

Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@foxtv.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez