Protesters Break Windows, Tag Police Cars With 'Kill Pigs' Over Zimmerman Verdict

SF GATE: (07-14) 00:25 PDT OAKLAND — Protesters marched through the streets of San Francisco and Oakland on Saturday evening, upset at the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida. In San Francisco, demonstrators marched through the Mission District after gathering at the 24th Street Mission BART Station. Hundreds marched down Valencia Street, chanting “Justice for Trayvon Martin.” The crowd dispersed peacefully, and officers will “maintain a presence in the Mission District for the time being,” said San Francisco police Officer Gordon Shyy, a department spokesman. Another protest was scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at Powell and Market streets. Across the bay in Oakland, however, about 125 protesters gathered at Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall before marching through downtown, starting small fires and smashing windows at the Wells Fargo Bank at 12th Street and Broadway and at several locations, including the Dogwood Bar, the Oakland Tribune and the Sears store. A BART police car parked outside the 12th Street BART Station had its windows smashed, and protesters spray-painted “F- the police” and “Kill Pigs” on the side of the vehicle. About 11:30 p.m., Oakland police formed a skirmish line near their headquarters at 7th Street and Broadway and came face-to-face with protesters. Argus, the police helicopter, was monitoring the crowd from above. The crowd later moved away from the intersection and headed east on 14th Street, stopping at a McDonald’s restaurant shortly after midnight to burn several flags and to spray-paint “Kill Zimmerman” and “FTP,” an anti-police epithet, on the side of Alameda County’s Rene C. Davidson Courthouse.