UPDATE:
Protesters moved towards north Oakland and were able to block traffic for a second time Tuesday on I-580 near 34th Street by climbing up an embankment.
Once police were able to clear the group from the freeway, protesters continued to the intersection of West MacArthur Boulevard and Telegraph Avenue.
At approximately 9:40 p.m., masked protesters set off several M80s, attacked a police cruiser and barricaded the street using trash cans and plastic construction materials that were later set on fire.
Oakland protesters shut down I-980 Tuesday night as they marched for a second time in response to the grand jury that declined to indict Missouri officer Darren Wilson.
The group stopped traffic after scrambling onto the the freeway from the northbound entrance just before 6:20 p.m., chanting “Shut it down for Michael Brown.” Shortly after, protesters made their way onto the southbound side and stopped traffic on both directions for roughly 10 minutes.
Officers outfitted in riot gear arrived and formed a semicircle around protestors and eventually pushed the group off of the freeway.
The protest is the second in Oakland following the grand jury’s decision Monday to not charge Darren Wilson, the Missouri police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.
“We’re angry and we don’t have anyone to back us like they (police) do,” said Cadine Williams, whose brother, O’Shaine Evans, was shot and killed in October by a San Francisco police officer. “We’re expressing ourselves so let us get out there and express ourselves. My hope is to stay peaceful.”
The first night of protests started peacefully but turned progressively violent as the night wore on, with burning trash cans and broken store windows as a result.
Tuesday’s protest started at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza at 5 p.m. where protesters shared a megaphone to call for peaceful protest against the killing of black males at the hands of police.
Protesters made their way south on Broadway Street at approximately 5:30 p.m. and headed toward Chinatown.
After returning back north onto Broadway Street and taking a left onto 19th Street, protesters made their way onto I-980 northbound where they eventually stopped traffic both ways.
Onlookers cheered from their homes as the protesters marched down the streets, though business owners expressed frustration with the decline of business brought on by the protest.
“They have a right to protest but there’s a limit,” said Chef Simone of Desco, an Italian restaurant in Oakland. “Breaking windows is not proving a point.”
