The Ferguson protest that turned into a violent and vandalism-heavy riot Friday in Union Square and in the Mission led to 79 arrests and charges filed against 4 individuals, as police chief Greg Suhr told reporters Monday. As SF Weekly reports, 50 came from elsewhere in California, and six of them were from out of state. In the course of the melee, five officers were injured, including the one who was hit in the back and neck by that sawhorse/traffic barrier in that widely spread video and below you can see more context for that incident in a lengthier video that is full of plenty of screaming.
According to Bay City News, only 23 of those arrested were San Francisco residents, and 21 of them were from Oakland. Six of them were juveniles whose names were not released, and six others were from out of state.
Chuck Nevius is predictably disgusted with the whole event, and while he agrees that the events in Ferguson and the subsequent grand jury debacle are a disgrace, he has no patience for these attacks on San Francisco police officers. "This isn't Oakland," he concludes, implying that Oakland cops have more to answer for when it comes to the treatment of black people than SF cops do.
One of the injured officers took a tequila bottle to the face, as CBS 5 reports, during the march that spread out to the Mission district. It's not yet known whether that officer will require surgery.
There is also, of course, the question of whether any protesters were injured, but so far the video evidence shows the SFPD being pretty restrained while having people scream "fuck you" in their faces, until someone tries to touch them. And like they did during the Occupy protests in Oakland three years ago, police laid out some of the objects and weapons they confiscated, including bricks, rocks, and a serious-looking wrench.
SFPD shows pics of officer injuries from Friday night's Union Square protest. More on @KCBSNews pic.twitter.com/3s4gRKerKj
— Chris Filippi (@chrisfilippi) December 2, 2014
@chrisfilippi @KCBSNews I think if the cop looked like *that*, we can only imagine what the protesters looked like ... pfffft
— KC Williams (@ProfKCWilliams) December 2, 2014
SFPD also displayed many objects taken from Friday's protest. pic.twitter.com/q78GwZIZbX
— Chris Filippi (@chrisfilippi) December 2, 2014
The four people who were booked were booked on charges of assault of an officer, possession of stolen property, having prior warrants, and other charges.
Police may still make more arrests based on surveillance camera footage, in particular related to the looting of a Radio Shack.
As Suhr puts it, "People say there is outrage. Well, they did the same thing after we won a baseball championship. How does breaking into an electronics store and stealing laptops help Ferguson?"
Previously: Friday Night Protests In Union Square Bring Violence and Vandalism To SF
