Anger burned for a second night in northern California between police and protesters calling for justice for Eric Garner, the black man who died in New York after being put in a chokehold by a white officer.
Protesters threw objects at police, with some police reporting that the crowds threw "explosives," according to Reuters. Swarms of protesters took over freeway overpasses at two locations in Berkeley. Police responded with tear gas and (by some accounts) rubber bullets.
The mobs looted stores in Berkeley, according to Reuters, and more than 500 were arrested. A protester who tried to stop looting was assaulted.
The frenzy in California is almost a direct contrast to the relatively peaceful East Coast demonstrators.
Some who have taken to Twitter are blaming the outrage on pent-up anger that started in 2009, after Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, was pushed face-down on the ground, handcuffed then shot in the back by a white Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer. The shooting was captured by multiple camera phones. The officer resigned the following day and his attorney said the officer believed he was pulling out his Taser, according to LA Times. The officer, Johannes Mehserle, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, according to Huffington Post.
