Morning Demonstrations at Johannes Mehserle Preliminary Hearing, Oakland, 5/18/09: photos

The first day of preliminary hearings in the trial of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant III on January 1st, 2009 began on Monday, May 18th at the Alameda County court house. With the families of Oscar Grant and Mehserle having 14 reserved seats between them in the small court room of presiding Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay, and the corporate media getting five seats, only about 15 additional people were allowed inside. Amongst those waiting to potentially attend the preliminary hearing, an informal agreement was made for "family first" and so a few more family members of Oscar Grant were allowed to enter the court room from the small group in the waiting room. Outside, demonstrators began gathering before 8am in order to press for an effective prosecution of Johannes Mehserle and justice for Oscar Grant and other victims of police violence.