EDITOR'S NOTE :
Jungho Kim is a Bay Area-based photojournalist who contributed this piece to LCRW. As you know, dear readers, this outlet is completely funded by donations. Covering these kind of protests takes skill and means taking risks. If you are able, please consider contributing to his work at https://cash.app/$mrkim. We’d like to raise $300 for him. You can find his excellent photography portfolio here and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
END NOTE
Several hundred people marched through the streets in solidarity with protests in Kenosha, Wis. during the “Justice for Jacob” protest in Oakland, Calif., August 26, 2020.
Tensions were high as hundreds of people marched through Oakland on Wednesday evening to protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 23. Speakers led the crowd in chanting the names of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Oakland’s own Oscar Grant who was killed by BART police in 2008.
Protesters, one wearing a ballistic vest with ‘Black Lives Matter’ written on it, walk down Broadway Avenue during the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest.Dozens of police vehicles chase protesters onto Grand Avenue near Adams Point.
Several hundred people in black bloc set the intensity level for the evening. Some protesters set off fireworks, others graffitied messages like ‘There are Black people in the future’ and the now familiar anti-police slogan ‘Cops don’t cum’ on walls. Many windows were ‘renovated’.
A trash can and its contents burn while police remove blockades from the road during their dispersal of people at the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest.The interior of the Edward Jones office is seen through a broken window. Protesters broke some windows and set small fires in the street as they were dispersed down Grand Avenue by Oakland police.
Nothing of note occurred at the Oakland Police Department but when protesters arrived at the U.S. District Courthouse several individuals banged on a door and were promptly met with pepper ball fire from unknown agents.
Ryan Miller poses for a photo at the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest near the U.S. District Courthouse. Just before several protesters went onto federal property to hit a door at the courthouse and were met with pepper ball fire from unknown officers.A roadblock made from construction barriers, signs, and pallets burns at Broadway Avenue and 21st Street as protesters calling for “Justice for Jacob” march through the streets of Oakland. Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wis. — his shooting has reignited Black Lives Matter protests.
While constructing roadblocks on Broadway Avenue a small group was approached by a passerby who asked them to not set things on fire. Their response: “Don’t be the peace police.”
An Oakland Police Department BearCat — an armored personnel carrier often used by militaries and police forces — sits on Grand Avenue.Oakland Police Department officers follow the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest down Harrison Street. Shortly after police declared the protest an unlawful assembly and gave people five minutes to disperse.
Just before 10:00pm more than 50 police and dozens of police vehicles intercepted the protest as it neared Lake Merritt. Officers declared an unlawful assembly over the LRAD before dispersing people east on Grand Avenue.
The glass on the front door of Avé Vista Apartment sits broken after several ground-level windows were smashed on the building during protests. Residents said there were no residential units on the ground floor.The top portion of a shovel lays broken on the ground outside an apartment building whose windows were smashed during the “Justice for Jacob” protest.Nyjis Coleman (right) and a co-worker pose for a photo outside Round Table Pizza on Grand Avenue. People protesting against the police shooting of Jacob Black in Kenosha, Wis. moved the restaurant’s dumpsters into the street to slow down police. Employees came out to retrieve the dumpsters after the protest had left the area.
Multiple groups split off with some people making their way onto I-580 and another heading to the Alameda County Courthouse. Others scattered into residential neighborhoods including Adams Point.
30-year residents of Adams Point pose for a photo in the window of the apartment during the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest. The couple said they were unable to sleep due to noise as protesters were dispersed by police.Residents of Adams Point stand outside their apartment as police disperse protesters at the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest.Neighbors of Adams Point sweep their street of glass and other debris left by protesters as they were dispersed by police during the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest.
One person with the street medic collective Queers United in Community Care was arrested while several others were detained. This is at least the second time that Oakland police have targeted medics during a dispersal operation, they also did so at a protest in the city on June 12. The medic van was impounded by police with one officer driving it away from the scene.
A street medic with Queers United in Community Care is detained in an Oakland Police Department SUV during the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest. The medic was later placed under arrest.An Oakland police officer drives the Queers United in Community Care first aid van away to be impounded after some members were detained and one arrested during the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest. QUICC is a ‘queer-led mutual aid and street medic collective’, according to their website.A man poses for a photo while being detained by Oakland police after officers dispersed the ‘Justice for Jacob’ protest.
Protesters are calling for people to come out again on Friday, August 28th.
