Oakland Protests Release of Oscar Grant's Killer Johannes Mehserle, 6/12/11: video, 2 of 3

On Sunday, June 12th, hours before Johannes Mehserle was set to be released from Los Angeles County Jail for having killed Oscar Grant by shooting him in the back, hundreds rallied in Oakland at Fruitvale BART station beginning at 3pm. A second rally was scheduled for 14th and Broadway at 5:30pm. While no permits from the city were requested nor granted for any demonstrations that day, it wasn't much of a secret that the main point of travel between the two demos would be a march down International Boulevard. Police blocked cross-traffic at intersections as the march proceeded. Other than two OPD "negotiators" on foot, ever-present at the front of the march, and perhaps a half-dozen unmarked patrol cars split between the front and back of the march, uniformed police largely kept their distance and did not interfere with or attempt to control the march. There were no police in riot gear seen along the main march route. At 2nd Avenue and International, however, a uniformed OPD snatch squad waited, directed no doubt by undercover officers moving amongst the crowd, then came forward and pulled two or three people from the march for arrest. The crowd blocked the front of the police car and chanted, "Let them go!" until the car hit the gas in reverse and left the scene down 2nd Ave. The march continued onward to 14th and Broadway despite the provocation. This video captures a few moments of the hour and a half march from Fruitvale to downtown.