Protests Rock Oakland in Wake of Verdict

More than 150 people were arrested Friday night as angry protesters marched through the Lake Merritt area of Oakland following the sentencing of a former BART police officer in the killing of a young black man on a transit platform in 2009. The protest was touched off by what was viewed as the lightness of the sentence, two years in prison.

Oscar Grant, 22, was shot in the back by Johannes Mehserle on New Year’s Day, 2009, at a BART platform in Oakland.

Video of the killing is available here. —JCL

AP via MSNBC:

Residents of an Oakland neighborhood besieged by several hundred protesters following the sentencing of a former transit officer have awoken to broken car windows and debris.

Dozens of cars in the neighborhood near Lake Merritt showed signs of damage Saturday morning. Residents told KRON-4 they could not understand why protesters chose their neighborhood.

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AP / Noah Berger

A man is arrested by Oakland police Friday night during protests following the sentencing of a former transit officer in the 2009 killing of unarmed Oscar Grant.