May Day Protesters Disrupt Oakland Courtrooms

OAKLAND, CA —Most criminal courtrooms at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland weren't able to conduct business this morning because deputies had to be diverted to respond to a large protest across the street at the Alameda County administration building, a sheriff's spokesman said.

"We had to re-allocate our resources and shut down some courtrooms" because a large number of deputies had to respond to a protest by about 150 people against the county's collaboration with immigration
authorities, Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

About 10 protesters linked arms and tried to prevent people from entering the main entrance to the administration building, but deputies periodically escorted small groups of people into and out of the building.
The protesters dispersed shortly after 11 a.m.

Kelly said four protesters were arrested on suspicion of trespassing for breaching the building's security for climbing to the county building's second-floor roof to unfurl a large banner that said, "What Does Sanctuary Look Like?"

One of the trials that was affected by deputies not being available to provide security at courtrooms was that of four men who are charged with murder for the fatal shooting of Chyemil Pierce, a 30-year-old
mother of three children, in West Oakland in March 2015.

Prosecutors say Pierce was an innocent bystander who was caught in the middle of crossfire between two rival groups of people. Today was supposed the first full day of testimony, but the clerk in the courtroom said testimony was postponed until Tuesday.

It appeared that only two of the 12 courtrooms at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse were able to operate this morning. Those courtrooms handle routine matters such as arraignments and plea entries but not trials.

Kelly said court officials hope that more courtrooms will be able to operate this afternoon.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock