AT LEAST 13 ARRESTED IN PROTEST AT OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT HEADQUARTERS

MONDAY – December 15, 2014 – 10am

At least thirteen protesters have been arrested among dozens that
blocked the entrances to Oakland Police Department headquarters this morning
to call for the end of police killings of unarmed black people.

protesters block entrances to Oakland Police Department headquarters Monday, December 15th, 2014

The action started around 7:45 a.m. outside the police building at
455 Seventh St., where protesters chained themselves to the building and
others blocked nearby streets and a highway off-ramp.

protester climbs flagpole at Main Entrance to Oakland Police Department headquarters. Hangs flag w/faces of “victims.” Monday, December 15th, 2014

Oakland police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said two doors
had been cleared as of about 9 a.m. and police had made seven arrests. Two
doors remained blocked and Watson said police would be methodically working
around the building to clear the remaining protesters.

protesters block Broadway 7th/Street – Entrances to Oakland Police Department headquarters Monday, December 15th, 2014

The arrested protesters will face charges of blocking a public
building and resisting arrest, Watson said.
The glass door to one entrance was broken by police tools while
officers cut the protesters free, she said.
The group is “extremely well organized” and has been communicative
with police, Watson said. But since the police headquarters is a public
safety building, the ability to access it is important, she said.

Chained together! protesters block Broadway 7th/Street – Entrances to Oakland Police Department headquarters Monday, December 15th, 2014

Broadway was also shut down between Sixth and Seventh streets as
of 8:30 a.m. by activists locked together with PVC pipes and chanting “black
lives matter.”
California Highway Patrol officers advised drivers to avoid
Interstate Highway 880 if possible because of protesters affecting the
highway ramps near downtown Oakland.

Demonstrators surround/chain themselves to pole. Protester climbs flagpole at Main Entrance to Oakland Police Department headquarters. Hangs flag w/faces of “victims.” Monday, December 15th, 2014

Alameda police said drivers should also avoid the Posey Tube
between Oakland and Alameda because of the protest.
Protesters cited the recent deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson,
Missouri, and Eric Garner in Staten Island in New York as examples of police
brutality against unarmed black men.

Demonstrators surround/chain themselves to pole. Protester climbs flagpole at Main Entrance to Oakland Police Department headquarters. Hangs flag w/faces of “victims.” Monday, December 15th, 2014

After grand juries declined to indict the officers involved in
both deaths, protests have sprung up nearly every day the past few weeks in
Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area.