Photos: A spontaneous Fruitvale march to protest ICE

The concept got here to them final evening, stated Romaine Charite, a member of the Oakland Alliance Towards Racism and Political Repression, after information unfold of the deliberate deployment of federal officers to the Bay Space. A gathering at Fruitvale Plaza.

Lower than 24 hours later, greater than 100 individuals gathered exterior Fruitvale BART Station on Thursday afternoon for a rally to protest the arrival of federal brokers within the Bay Space.

After a few half-hour of chants and brief speeches, the group marched to thirty fifth Avenue after which to Worldwide Boulevard as drivers honked in assist earlier than heading to the doorway to Coast Guard Island, the place Customs and Border Safety brokers arrived early this morning.

“We would like ICE and CPB out of the Bay Space,” Charite stated. “We all know they stated they would not go to San Francisco instantly, however Trump has additionally stated he plans to place boots on the bottom in Oakland. We all know that when individuals in different cities have proven as much as confront officers, they’re getting scared. If we will sluggish the assaults on our useful neighborhood members, that is a victory.”

Charite later led the gang in a chant that has turn into acquainted since Donald Trump’s re-election: “No ICE! No KKK! No racist USA!”

The East Bay Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Highway Socialist Group, Indivisible East Bay and Oakland Group Service Group participated in organizing the assembly.

Many within the crowd carried handmade indicators, together with ones that learn: “Feds Out! Cease the Deportations,” “Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants” and “Crowns for None. Legalization for All.”

Dale Harrington, who got here to the assembly, has lived in Oakland since 1979 and stated the final time he noticed a lot grassroots political motion within the metropolis was the killing of Oscar Grant by a BART police officer right here at Fruitvale Station.

“I feel Trump is making an attempt to justify imposing the riot legislation,” Harrington stated. “That is why he is sending the troops right here and inflicting all this unrest.”

Adelaida, a scholar at Berkeley Metropolis Faculty who requested that her final identify not be used as a result of a few of her relations, most of whom got here from Guatemala 5 years in the past, had been undocumented, stated she spoke out and marched as a result of they could not.

“They can not exit, they cannot march, and I need to do it for them and all of the immigrants who do not have a voice,” she stated. “They should know that they aren’t alone, that we’re combating.”