Protests in the California Bay Area turned violent Sunday for the second night in a row, as police used tear gas to disperse crowds in Berkeley.
The hactivist group Anonymous infiltrated the Oakland Police Department website and shut it down after tear gas was fired at demonstrators there.
Law enforcement claims it resorted to gas after being targeted with "explosives."
— DIGITΛSHΛDØW (@DigitaShadow) December 8, 2014
It was the fifth consecutive night of protests nationwide over what activists see as the failure of the criminal justice system in the U.S.
Multiple arrests were made, and multiple injuries were reported.
— Kale Williams (@sfkale) December 8, 2014
According to Police Officer Jennifer Coats, one protester tried to stop an act of vandalism on a local business and was hit in the head with a hammer.
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) December 8, 2014
— Anonymous (@YourAnonGlobal) December 8, 2014
Police used tear gas and rubber bullets Saturday after a small splinter group of protesters pelted officers with rocks and other projectiles in Berkeley. At least three stores were looted, according to local law enforcement. Several police vehicles were damaged, and local public transportation was halted. Six people were arrested.
"A small portion of protesters have been violent," Jennifer Coats, a Berkeley Police Department spokesperson told CNN on Saturday. "Some officers have suffered minor injuries as a result."
Issues of police brutality and racial inequality have taken the nation by storm in recent weeks.
The U.S. Justice Department has mounted a federal investigation of "possible civil rights violations" in the chokehold death of unarmed African-American Eric Garner at the hands of white police officer Daniel Pantaleo in Staten Island, New York. A grand jury failed to indict Pantaelo on any charges last week, despite the fact that a bystander's cellphone video of the incident shows what many have slammed as excessive use of force by police. The video went viral this summer.
In response to public unrest, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Chief Bill Bratton announced a massive police retraining effort to strengthen and improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
A civil rights review of Michael Brown's death at the hands of Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri is currently underway.
And on Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced a federal probe in Cleveland, Ohio revealed systemic abuses by the police force there.
Civil Rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton has called for a national march against police brutality to be held in Washington, D.C. on December 13.
