60 detained for looting, 22 arrested after Oakland protests turn violent after dark

Sixty suspected looters were detained in a downtown Oakland protest that quickly devolved into a vandalism and looting spree Friday night, as demonstrators smashed windows and set fires inside buildings in a show of outrage about the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The vandalism left the downtown streets covered in broken glass that crunched as cars drove over it early Saturday. Graffiti covered the walls of buildings along Broadway, even on the historic Latham Fountain, dedicated in 1913 to a couple “as a tribute to their humanity.” City workers swept glass from the walls and window sills of City Hall, where the windows of the ornate front door were smashed and painted with red graffiti reading “FTP,” shorthand for “F- the police.”

It was not the first time downtown Oakland has become a central stage for an anguished national debate about police violence against African Americans. And it was one of many across the nation, including in San Jose where an SUV struck a pair of protesters. But Friday’s protest in Oakland flared against the backdrop of a pandemic, a severe economic downturn and collective anxiety from Bay Area residents who have spent weeks pent up in their homes.

“I think it’s all built up: COVID-19, people not working, people frustrated in the house. This is their outlet,” said Ronnell Sanders, who was standing outside a boarded-up, heavily graffitied Peet’s Coffee shop on Saturday morning. Sanders grew up in East Oakland and lives downtown.

Down the block, Ben Hopfer swept shards of glass from the sidewalk outside Darling’s Elixirs, a bar at 17th Street and Broadway. Hopfer lives in the Uptown neighborhood and attended the protest Friday. But he said he left at midnight, when it began spinning out of control.

Hopfer came back Saturday morning with a broom, plastic bucket and dolly to roll trash away.

The chaotic events coincided with a shooting at the Ronald V. Dellums federal building downtown that left one contract security officer dead, and another wounded. It’s unclear whether the two events are related.

Friday’s demonstration began peacefully, as law enforcement tried to “provide safe ... and respectful spaces for our demonstrators,” Police Chief Susan Manheimer said in a video posted on Twitter.

She then pleaded for protesters who “come to Oakland and stand with us” to refrain from trashing downtown and vandalizing businesses that have suffered since the pandemic began.

The city has long been a hub for protests that often leave severe damage in the downtown core and nearby Auto Row. Merchants and city politicians widely perceive the trouble as coming from outside agitators who pour in from other cities.

Residents walking through or cleaning up the debris Saturday said that’s what happened Friday night, too.

“This is the aftermath of what people who are not from Oakland do,” Sanders said.

Oakland residents might march and raise a ruckus, maybe even turn over a garbage can, he said, but won’t trash their city.

“My thing is it makes us look like were tearing everything apart,” he said.” I just feel bad for these small businesses that are already suffering.”

Friday’s protest turned ugly after dark when dozens of demonstrators began smashing windows, spray-painting buildings and starting fires in trash bins, business entrances and the middle of the street. At one point, a group ripped the protective plywood off a Walgreen’s store, used it to smash the windows and then started hauling out armloads of merchandise. Police fired rounds of tear-gas in numerous attempts to disperse demonstrators.

People downtown Saturday morning tiptoed through the broken glass and took photos of the destruction with their phones.

Cynthia Sherman of San Leandro waited outside the Golden 1 Credit Union on Clay Street as a crew boarded up some broken windows, and decried the vandalism.

“I think it’s sad people destroy property,” she said. “That’s not really a protest, that’s a riot. I feel badly for the people came to protest (peacefully).”

A demonstration in San Jose followed the same arc — starting peacefully, then turning into a melee that included small fires, skirmishes between protesters and police and two people injured when an SUV struck two people then sped off. At one point, protesters blocked traffic in both directions on Highway 101,smashing the windows of cars.

Rachel Swan and Michael Cabanatuan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: [email protected] and [email protected] Twitter: @rachelswan and @ctuan