Some members of the National Lawyers Guild and a smattering of community activists claim the Oakland Police Department "used excessive force in responding to a large protest after the verdict in the trial of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle," reports AP/CBS5.

Rachel Jackson of the sanctifying Coalition for Justice for Oscar Grant, who called Thursday's protest "a beautiful event," says the beauty was "marred by police officers who knocked down peaceful protesters." (Perhaps the cops thought there was so much beauty in the world, they felt like they couldn't take it, like their hearts were going to cave in.) Carlos Villarreal of the National Lawyers Guild's San Francisco office alleges that police were "violent and unprofessional."

The protests, which were tame compared to media predictions, resulted in 78 arrests. Of those arrested, a scant 25% were from the city of Oakland.