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A demonstrator throws backs a teargas canister toward the police line during the fourth night of demonstrations over recent grand jury decisions in police-involved deaths on Dec. 6, 2014 in Berkeley, Calif.(Photo: Stephen Lam, Getty Images)
Quiet finally fell on a main thoroughfare of Berkeley, Calif., on Sunday after a night of protest turned violent and left several businesses battered and looted.
Protests across the nation over a New York grand jury's decision Wednesday not to charge a white police officer in the chokehold-related death of an unarmed black man were mostly peaceful Saturday night. But in Berkeley, masked protesters smashed windows and threw objects at police, authorities said.
Some protesters broke business windows while others implored them to stop the violence, CNN reported.
Officer Jenn Coats, a spokeswoman for the Berkeley Police Department, said a police officer received hospital treatment for a shoulder injury, while another sustained minor injuries after some of the protesters threw rocks and other projectiles. Six people were arrested.
Coats said several businesses on University Avenue were looted and damaged. Windows were broken and wine bottles smashed at a Trader Joe's, while masked looters broke into a Radio Shack and grabbed merchandise, the Bay-area news website sfgate.com reported. Protesters also broke windows at a Wells Fargo Bank, the website said.
Coats said about 400 protesters were demonstrating peacefully when a "small splinter group" broke off from the main group.
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"Unfortunately this group has become violent and continues to throw objects, including rocks and bricks at officers," Coats said in a statement Saturday night. She said the crowd ignored several dispersal orders and police used tear gas and smoke bombs to break up the mayhem.
"I'm not sure that's necessary," Elaine Dunlap, 74, told sfgate.com after exiting a concert at naerby Zellerbach Playhouse, the gas causing tears to run down her face. "I think people have a right to protest, certainly for an issue as big as this. I've never experienced that and I'm an old hippie."
USA TODAY
Eric Garner's family thanks protesters around the USA
Saturday was the fourth day of protests after a grand jury decided that a Staten Island, N.Y., police officer would not face charges in the July death of Eric Garner, 43, an asthmatic who died after apparently being put in a chokehold. In a videotape of the incident that has been seen worldwide, Garner can be heard saying repeatedly, "I can't breathe." The New York Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a homicide.
The grand jury's decision came days after a St. Louis panel decided not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen. That decision set off days of sometimes violent protests in late November. Now thousands of people have taken to streets across the USA since Wednesday in protest of the New York case. Demonstrators staged "die-ins" by lying on the floor of Grand Central Terminal in New York City and at Union Station in Washington on Saturday.
In Seattle, several hundred people marched downtown to police headquarters Saturday. Authorities said a group split off from the main protest and tried to get onto a roadway. Police say some protesters threw rocks at officers who blocked them from entering it. Seven people were arrested.
The outcry over the rulings has left many police officers feeling betrayed and demonized. "Police officers feel like they are being thrown under the bus," said Patrick Lynch, president of New York's police union.
On Saturday, Garner's family thanked the thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets. His mother, Gwen Carr, said: "It is just so awesome to see how the crowds were out there.
"They are out there. They are standing for my son. My heart is overflowing with joy. It's just a gracious feeling."
She told protesters to protest "in peace."
Contributing: Associated Press
Desiree Griffiths, 31, of Miami, holds up a sign saying "Black Lives Matter", with the names of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two black men recently killed by police, during a protest Friday, Dec. 5, 2014, in Miami. People are protesting nationwide against recent decisions not to prosecute white police officers involved in the killing of black men. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) ORG XMIT: FLLS107<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Lynne Sladky, AP)
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