Nine officers injured, two protesters arrested at Sacramento George Floyd demonstration

A total of nine officers suffered minor injuries and two demonstrators were arrested during Friday night’s raucous protest over the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis this week, police say.

Seven Sacramento police offices were hurt after officers were hit by “large objects like rocks and bricks being thrown at them,” police spokesman Karl Chan said in an email to The Bee early Saturday.

“One suspect was arrested after throwing one of those items at our officers,” Chan wrote. “SPD also had four police vehicles that incurred minor damage. These numbers do not include any numbers from outside agencies.”

The California Highway Patrol, which also had a large presence during the demonstration, said two of its officers suffered minor injuries and it had arrested a person.

The arrests came after seven hours of protests and marching that began in Oak Park, where roughly 500 Black Lives Matter demonstrators marched across the 12th Avenue bridge over Highway 99 to Franklin Boulevard and then to a police station annex building. They laid siege to the annex for hours, standing face to face with dozens of officers in helmets and protective gear who kept them from entering the facility.

By midnight, the protesters had retreated back to the overpass, where about 75 continued to shout at the CHP officers and other law enforcement agencies keeping them from getting onto the highway.

After midnight, some in the crowd began throwing objects — bricks, river rocks, two planters and water bottles — and Sacramento police formed a defensive line and ordered the group over a bullhorn repeatedly to disperse and return across the overpass to Oak Park.

A tense standoff continued until about 1 a.m., when the crowd finally relented and moved away, leaving broken automobile glass, litter and rocks in their wake.

The protest was one of many nationwide Friday which included the shutdown a freeway in Los Angeles, reportedly a killed a federal officer in Oakland and a lockdown at the White House.

More protests were expected Saturday in Sacramento.

This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 8:01 AM.