The Black Lives Matter protests in the Bay Area that last weekend sometimes devolved into destructive and violent rampages after dark gave way to much more peaceful events this weekend – marches and gatherings that generally wrapped up before the sun went down.
Perhaps the biggest of Saturday’s peaceful Black Lives Matter protests was on the Golden Gate Bridge, where thousands of marchers filled the Golden Gate Bridge. That event was organized by Tiana Day, 17-year-old girl from San Ramon. The peaceful protest and march across the span started at noon from the toll plaza, and thousands queued up ahead of time. Marchers did temporarily stop vehicle traffic on the bridge.
Hundreds came to downtown Oakland Saturday for a peaceful protest at Frank Ogawa Plaza that helped shine light on mental health issues.
Separately, a run around Lake Merritt featured participants all wearing black T shirts.
Berkeley hosted a march that was billed as a New Orleans-style “second line”- type event including a march down Martin Luther King Jr. Way featuring a brass band.
Two other smaller events were held Saturday in San Francisco, and others were held in cities including Richmond, Palo Alto, Mill Valley, Cupertino, Hayward and Pleasant Hill.
On Sunday, protests were orderly affairs, and generally family friendly. More than a dozen protest events around the Bay Area Sunday included events in Oakland, San Francisco (including a march designed especially for kids’ participation), Union City (two separate events), Martinez (where dozens of farmers’ market shoppers took a knee during a short event midday), San Mateo (that blocked El Camino Real for a time Sunday afternoon), Lafayette, Millbrae, Vallejo, Milpitas, Pleasanton and Santa Cruz. No major problems were reported at any of these events.
More similar protests are planned for Monday, including in Martinez, Antioch, Richmond, Oakland, Berkeley (three different events) and San Francisco.