Violent agitators over the weekend torched courthouses in California and Colorado amid Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
“We ask organizers of tonight’s protest to help maintain peace,” the Oakland Police Department wrote on Twitter Saturday. “Currently, some demonstrators in the area of 17th & Lakeside are breaking windows and chanting racial slurs at residents.”
“Agitators within the crowd of demonstrators have set the Alameda County Superior Courthouse on fire,” the department added in its statement while calling on individuals to avoid the area. “We are calling for peace and to have safe spaces and safe places for tonight’s demonstration.”
Meanwhile, the department said that attacks were made by rioters on officers, saying that fireworks and other projectiles were launched at police.
“Fireworks and dangerous projectiles are some of the items agitators used to assault officers. We ask the organizers of tonight’s demonstration to work with us, calling for peace and help us provide safe spaces and safe places for demonstrators,” it said. The department included images of property damage and some of the items that were launched at police officers.
The Aurora, Colorado, police department also confirmed that a fire was started inside a courthouse in the city.
“The protestors are no longer peaceful as they are now throwing objects, shining lasers, and shooting large fireworks at officers,” the department wrote. “We now have protestors that have broken windows to the courthouse and are inside of the building, attempting to start fires.”
The rioters then attempted to tear down wooden window coverings to use them as shields.
Meanwhile, some were seen “breaking windows on the courthouse and attempting to get inside of the building,” the department said.
Police chase after protesters who refused to disperse at a protest in Oakland, Calif., on July 25, 2020.Christian Monterrosa/AP Photo
Rioters also caused damage in Seattle on Saturday evening, including burning a youth detention center and attacking a store. At least 45 people were arrested.
And in Austin, Texas, a demonstration turned violent when a man was shot and killed during a Black Lives Matter protest downtown on Saturday.
