There were multiple scenes of unrest, protest, looting, and general chaos Monday evening in the East Bay, as groups violated curfew orders and businesses were again vandalized and looted. Tear gas was deployed against protesters in both Walnut Creek and Oakland, where around 100 people were arrested, 80 of them for violating the city's 8 p.m. curfew — announced late on Monday afternoon.
An evening of speeches and peaceful protest outside Oakland City Hall devolved into a small melee outside police headquarters at Seventh and Broadway as the curfew approached. As the Chronicle reports, around 100 protesters marched seven blocks from City Hall to OPD headquarters, where police deployed tear gas and ultimately arrested around 80 people for violating the curfew. Around 20 others were arrested for other charges and several guns were seized, according to ABC 7.
Earlier in the evening, a group of protesters in Walnut Creek briefly shutdown I-680, and police there also deployed tear gas and rubber bullets. A demonstration in Civic Park extended beyond the 6 p.m. curfew, and some protesters were not aware that the curfew had been moved up from 8 p.m. earlier in the day, per KRON 4. Reportedly, several protesters and officers there sustained injuries. One photograph in the Chronicle showed a masked protester with a bloodied head, reportedly from a flying projectile.
A Twitter video from the freeway scene showed the driver's side window of a bystander vehicle that was reportedly shot out by one of the cops' rubber bullets.
Walnut Creek police are shooting rubber bullets aimlessly which caused them to shoot out a car window of a family who wasn’t even participating in the protest. pic.twitter.com/vUuIOfJxe9
— syd! (@sydstfu) June 2, 2020
The Oakland protest had begun further up Broadway at Oakland Technical High School, and police estimated that around 15,000 took part in the peaceful march to City Hall. The smaller group that faced a skirmish line of police near OPD headquarters engaged with the cops briefly, tried returning to 14th and Broadway, and some were arrested there.
@NBCNews @CBSNews @ABC @chucktodd @maddow your coverage is important, but where the heck is the coverage of the peaceful beautiful protests that aren’t hijacked or playing to white fears? Oakland did this but I haven’t seen anything other than fear. Where is your balance? pic.twitter.com/sYj4TS6joZ
— JRL (@siskbert) June 2, 2020
In Richmond, as the Chronicle reports, around 200 people stormed the closed Hilltop Mall, vandalizing and looting it. Richmond Police ultimately arrested 15 alleged looters, and the department tweeted at 9:39 p.m. that officers had seized control of the mall. The department also dispelled a rumor of shots fired and an officer down at the scene.
On Twitter, locals were mocking the reports of the looting at Hilltop because the mall itself has been largely abandoned and is the subject of an in-progress redevelopment plan. Reports suggested that "hundreds" of vehicles encircled the mall intent on looting, and attempts were made to break into a Walmart at the property which has remained opened.
Hilltop looks to be getting looted pic.twitter.com/FkudboLNAe
— Denis Ivan Perez (@dpi_19) June 2, 2020
Hilltop mall before & after looting pic.twitter.com/MdnsAW8xNO
— 🌹 (@bastosdessy) June 2, 2020
There were reportedly rampant reports of looting in Vallejo, and one alleged looter was shot by police at a Walgreens there. That recalled a similar incident at a Hayward CVS where a looter was shot by police on Sunday.
In San Francisco, things were relatively quiet Monday. Though as the Chronicle reports, lingering demonstrators at City Hall after the 8 p.m. curfew began led to two arrests. And on Monday afternoon around 3 p.m., a group of 30 to 50 juveniles allegedly broke into the Target store on Geary Boulevard and began pilfering items. They fled before officers arrived, and no arrests have been made.