Oakland police detained 52 protestors on Saturday night as they marched in the streets in defiance of Mayor Libby Schaaf's new ban on nighttime protests.
Demonstrators were allowed to march from City Hall to the Oakland Police headquarters by officers unencumbered. But once the group decided to move on to Jack London Square, officers declared it an unlawful assembly around 9 p.m. Around 10 p.m., the police moved in on the ground, sitting in the middle of Washington Street between 3rd and 4th Streets, and began to detain protestors, according to SFGate.
In total, East Bay Express says 47 people were detained and five were arrested. Among those detained was Oakland Planning Commissioner Jahmese Myers.
Protesters shouting names of black people killed by police #SayHerName #BreakTheCurfew pic.twitter.com/u5TyQbb3wV
— Julia Carrie Wong (@juliacarriew) May 24, 2015
Earlier in the week the mayor's office announced a new policy banning nighttime marches in the street, and justified it by saying that the laws were already in place but never enforced by the police. "We've not changed our policy. We have not enacted any new laws. We're just making better use of the laws that we currently have," the mayor told KPIX. The ban is designed to curb the property destruction and vandalism that was so rampant during the May Day protests.
On Thursday night, a group of 200 marchers were forced off the street and onto the sidewalk by authorities because they lacked a permit. Cat Brooks, one of the organizers of last night's march, said "we are going to finish what we tried to do peacefully on Thursday night" as they began their protest.
Critics say the new policy is unconstitutional. "We have a right to peacefully assemble. That is a Constitutional right, we have the right. It doesn't say you have the right to peacefully assemble until 8 o'clock," Brooks told KPIX.
According to the East Bay Express several Oakland PD officers were seen without their body cameras, which would violate the department's policy.
Another demonstration protesting the policy is scheduled for tonight in downtown Oakland.
Multiple OPD officers were not wearing/did not activate their body cameras last night http://t.co/ApqVC4TFCX pic.twitter.com/kmGwc1kt7f
— Darwin BondGraham (@DarwinBondGraha) May 24, 2015