BART Commuters: Police Anticipate Protests in Wake of Mehserle Verdict, Grant Supporters Call for Rally

Oakland police worry that "outside agitators" might not let peaceful demonstrations stay that way following a verdict in the BART shooting case.

Jury deliberations were postponed Tuesday due to a juror's illness. The trial deals with former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, who shot and killed passenger Oscar Grant on the Fruitvale station platform on January 1, 2009. 

Jurors are trying to decide whether the law should hold Mehserle responsible-whether to acquit him or find him guilty of second-degree murder or of lesser offenses of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.

Oakland police have undergone crowd-control training and been put on 12-hour shifts as they awaited a verdict, the Associated Press reported.

The City of Oakland issued a statement on Friday in which it says officials anticipate not only protests but are concerned that agitators will stir up another round of violent protests, such as the ones that rocked Oakland after Grant's shooting.

"We have heard of possible outside agitation in an attempt to turn the peaceful movement into acts of civil unrest," the release said, adding that the police department has taking a series of steps to prepare for any unrest. 

Meanwhile, the group Justice for Oscar Grant has called for a rally to take place the evening the verdict is announced, reported the blog Oakland Local Monday. The group, according to a statement published on the blog, says the rally will take place at 6 p.m. at 14th Street and Broadway in downtown Oakland--and that it will be peaceful.  

The statement also says, though, that:

--"Massive street protests were the only thing that forced Mehserle's arrest."

--People's anger is justified because "we are the victims of police violence" and no cooling off period needs to take place.

"If anything, we need more resistance, more action, more mobilization," the statement says. 

At Walnut Creek Patch reported Friday, some people at the Walnut Creek BART station expressed concerns about traveling in and around Oakland after the verdict is announced. Gary Grounds of Danville said he and his co-workers at a cellular phone shop in downtown Oakland had been discussing all last week how they would get home and whether to close up in the event of riots.

When violence broke out in downtown Oakland following Grant's shooting, protesters smashed the windows of his workplace. Grounds, who commutes daily to Oakland's MacArthur station, said he was also wondering how he would get home today if the verdict was decided and any protests disrupted BART travel. 

"I'll have to find another way back home," he said. "Maybe I'll have to get a car pool back." He added that his business had to close for the day following the riots to clean up all the broken glass. 

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