Sacramento protest ends: Authorities disperse crowd after firing pepper balls, flash-bangs

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A largely peaceful Sacramento protest against police brutality briefly disintegrated into chaos early Saturday after a group of demonstrators hurled water bottles, trash and other objects at police officers and halted traffic on Highway 99.

During a tense standoff on the Highway 99 overpass on 12th Avenue, about 75 protesters surrounded a group of police officers, forcing the police to retreat westward toward a gas station on Franklin Boulevard. The officers knocked several protesters over, and someone threw a plastic planter at the officers.

The police fired a pepper ball into the crowd at one point and authorities ordered the demonstrators to disperse. CHP officers, stationed on the freeway ramps, also fired several flash-bang grenades to end the gathering. A protester said he got hit with a pepper ball fired by law enforcement.

Police issued multiple dispersal orders as tensions mounted on 12th Avenue, warning demonstrators they’d be arrested. Some left, others stuck around, watch officers from across the street. Meanwhile, several protesters hopped a fence to get onto Highway 99, halting southbound traffic for several minutes before abandoning the freeway.

Within a half hour, tempers cooled and most of the protesters had left the vicinity. No arrests were immediately reported.

The protesters were the remnant of a group of 500 who staged a noisy but peaceful protest Friday night in front of a police substation to demonstrate against the police-custody death in Minneapolis of George Floyd. The Floyd case ignited protests all over the country, some violent.

The two-hour Sacramento protest at the Joseph E. Rooney police annex on Franklin Boulevard was peaceful but tense as the demonstrators chanted slogans and taunted several dozen helmeted officers blocking the building’s main entrance.

But as the protest appeared to break up, about 75 protesters gathered by the Highway 99 overpass at 12th Avenue, and the situation deteriorated.

Broken glass was strewn across parts of 12th. Police and California Highway Patrol officers moved in and blocked the freeway on-ramps. CHP issued an order to disperse. When the demonstrators failed to leave, the CHP set off several noise-making devices and police officers began advancing on the crowd and it appeared they were preparing to make arrests shortly before midnight.

The late-night confrontation on 12th Avenue followed a two-hour standoff in front of the Rooney police station. Inching toward the line of officers, protesters chanted Floyd’s name at the impassive officers, a few cursed at them, and for a while the crowd chanted “Stephon Clark,” evoking the name of the unarmed black man killed by Sacramento police two years ago.

One man went down the line, patted the officers on the shoulder and shook their hands; another stood inches from an officer and screamed, “Why are you killing us?”

The demonstrators cheered as a Black Lives Matter banner was raised on the flagpole in the station’s parking lot. After an hour and a half, the police presence at the station doubled as the crowd continued chanting. As the skies darkened, some protesters used their cellphones to shine light directly into the officers’ visors. Someone scrawled ACAB — for “All cops are bastards” — in red on the sign in the parking lot identifying the station. Protest signs were pasted on the tile mural of the building.

Then, after about two hours, most of the group backed away from the police line and began milling around Franklin. Several dozen marchers blocked Franklin, halting traffic in both directions before scattering. Another group of protesters continued facing off against the officers in front of the station but left after a half hour or so. Police set up lights, powered by a gas-fired generator, to illuminate the parking lot, as Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies helped them guard the area.

The size of the demonstration, organized by Black Lives Matter Sacramento, rivaled the major protests that erupted when two Sacramento police officers shot and killed Clark in 2018 and again a year later, when county District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert declined to file charges against the officers.

The marchers were a diverse mix of blacks, whites, Asians and Latinos. Among those leading the chants was Stephon Clark’s brother, Stevante, who was a central figure in the protest over his brother’s shooting. Stevante Clark, who was recently charged in a domestic violence incident, arrived in a suit and tie along with his trademark bandana on his head.

Many wore masks to guard against the coronavirus but ignored guidelines on social distancing. They chanted Floyd’s name and slogans like, “No justice, no peace. No racist police.” Scores of marchers carried signs with messages such as “Arbitrary power is tyranny” and “Say his name.”

Like the Clark case, Floyd’s death has riveted the nation. A video captured white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pin his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed black man, complained he couldn’t breathe.

“We’re in solidarity with what’s happening in Minneapolis right now,” said Tanya Faison, founder of Black Lives Matter Sacramento, shortly before the march to the annex began. “Over the years we’ve had lots of deaths in Sacramento where nobody’s got justice.”

A group of California Highway Patrol officers stationed at the northbound entrance ramp of Highway 99 on Sutterville Road, near the spot where the march began. The marchers walked past the ramp and continued west toward the police annex.

The Sacramento demonstration coincided with protests spreading across the country as outrage mounted over Floyd’s death. Hundreds marching through San Jose halted traffic on city streets and a section of Highway 101, and officers shot rubber bullets and tear gas canisters to disperse crowds. Some protesters hurled water bottles at law enforcement officers.

Meanwhile, demonstrators in Los Angeles shut down the 110 freeway. In Atlanta, protesters broke windows at CNN Center and torched an American flag. Nine people were arrested in Detroit and an officer was hit with a rock.

Much of the Twin Cities was under curfew following riots that left businesses burnt to the ground, even as Chauvin was charged Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Three other officers who watched the incident are under investigation. All four were fired from the force.

The charges brought little consolation to Faison, who said justice won’t be served “until they’re in the jail and doing time, like we’d be doing.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 6:00 PM.