Student Activists Beaten After Rally On Interstate (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Produced by HuffPost's Eyes & Ears Citizen Journalism Unit

On March 4th, 2010, demonstrators in California and across the country took to the streets to protest massive cuts at all levels of education and government imposed austerity measures.

In Oakland, thousands of protesters rallied in Frank Ogawa Plaza. A group of some 200 then broke off and marched through downtown before moving to Interstate 880 and later taking over an Interstate 980 exit ramp. The Oakland riot police swept in and without a call for dispersal started swinging batons and beating people before arresting them. The video below shows the beatings 1 minute 47 seconds in.

As police were attacking the crowd, Francois Zimany, a fifteen-year old high school student, fractured his skull after a 30 foot fall off the freeway. Questions have arisen over whether he fell, jumped, or was pushed by police off of the freeway.

The interstate was shut for over two hours with traffic gridlocked across the Bay Area. Corporate journalists covering the action were allowed to leave while the independents were rounded up along with demonstrators, including one student journalist with the Daily Californian who was not carrying press credentials.

Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism dean responded to the arrest in an interview with the Daily Californian:

Neil Henry, dean of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, noted that these days "everybody has a camera and has access to publication on the Internet."

"In general, student journalists should be treated with the same respect as journalists from traditional media," he said. "They do same thing, they report under high standards to a significant population, they are the eyes and ears for the university community for a newspaper like the Daily Cal."

EDITOR'S NOTE: The authors of this piece and producers of the above video were also arrested and detained for over 20 hours. They were on assignment for Democracy Now! and did produce press credentials.

These photos were posted Sunday afternoon on the activist forum, Indybay by Dave Id, a friend of protesters who had been beaten. They had been taken about 48 hours after the highway rally.

Comments

[banker67]

05:16 PM on 03/10/2010

It's not all that confusing.
Would you want the police to beat you or one of your children brutally for ANY reason?
1. Yes, it's okay they can smash my daughter's face all they like.
2. No, it seems a bad idea no matter who gets clubbed senseless.

[lizdear]

01:22 PM on 03/11/2010

It's not all that confusing.
These students should know right from wrong.
An example: Disrupting traffic on the 880 Interstate. That's definitely wrong.

As for the police "brutally" beating these "children" (who are mostly college students), they probably deserved it. If the police tells you to stop what you're doing, THEN STOP. Plain and simple, friends. The students would probably have been let go but I bet some of them ruined that for mocking the police. And I doubt all of these resolved ANYTHING for the tuition hikes.

[BullhornJournal]

03:13 AM on 03/14/2010

Yes, yes, do exactly as you are told. Do not question, interrupt or limit the economic machine in any way. Be a Good, Patriotic American and beg the police for forgiveness, won't you?

F()CK cops.

[BigRed100]

01:53 PM on 03/10/2010

If I hear one more person refer to cops as heroic I will lose my effing lunch. what a bunch of damn cowards. How much courage does it take (wearing protective gear) to beat unarmed college students while the other brown shirts are pointing shotguns at terrified kids. Where are all the conservatives standing up for civil liberties. Sure glad I don't live in Russia.....

[travelah]

01:10 PM on 03/10/2010

My skrule lunch is so hi I think I'll go play on the interstate and f@#k with trucks!"

[travelah]

12:58 PM on 03/10/2010

If you engage in open civil disobedience, you should expect to carry your burden for doing so. It comes with the territory. Now, who had their tuition lowered as a result of this?

[jleed]

12:24 PM on 03/10/2010

They are at it again ,not because of their color this time.

[Mithrandir Greyholm]

12:51 AM on 03/10/2010

There's depressing and then there is depressing.

"As police were attacking the crowd, Francois Zimany, a fifteen-year old high school student, fractured his skull after a 30 foot fall off the freeway. Questions have arisen over whether he fell, jumped, or was pushed by police off of the freeway. "

"The authors of this piece and producers of the [included] video were also arrested and detained for over 20 hours. They were on assignment for Democracy Now! and did produce press credentials." Corporate press were not arrested and were allowed to leave.

[DrivenMind]

01:07 PM on 03/09/2010

Thank you Oakland Police department for such publicity. Here in my home state of Georgia, Governor Sunny Purdue purposed increasing our tuition by 77%! Of course such an absurd increase is not feasible, and is I would argue unethical given that our schools rank among the lowest in the country. Makes you consider dropping out for sake of self-preservation, since there is almost no way to make that difference up if you're working full time and trying to attend school.

With enough bad government decision making, and police brutality we might even find the spark needed to realign America's corporate-centric priorities.

I also refuse to accept the notion that college "isn't for everyone". Ours is a society where ones education in large part determines ones social class, shouldn't it follow then that if ours is a "free" society those who wish to improve their position should be allowed to do so WHENEVER they feel so compelled. Unfortunately a college education does not actually guarantee anything.

[memxavier]

09:31 AM on 03/09/2010

To sit by passively is not an option, to sit by passively is to allow yourself to continue to be inconvenienced and exploited. This is why they take to the streets, occupy, block roads, and so on. We are not inconveniencing, we are inconvenienced, We are not alienating, we are alienated. It is also a direct message to the hard working people of America; "You will not be able to sit by passively and expect to flourish and have a future, join us" but it is also a direct message to those in power; "You will not be able to inconvenience us in the name of your own convenience, You will not be able to exploit us for the sake of your own gain. For every time you attack us citizens, we will strike back by shutting your factories down, your streets, your roads, your schools (which are being taken away from us and restructured for their benefit), and prevent any city and work place which is structured to benefit them off of our backs from functioning in normality." As Zinn said, they say civil disobedience troubles people, but that is the point. The world is troubled, and it's time we wake up to that. No 'inconveniences' caused by strikes and blockades can compare to the suffering the hard-working taxpayer faces day to day.

[memxavier]

09:31 AM on 03/09/2010

"They were inconveniencing hard-working tax payers"

Yes, this statement is enforced by the mainstream media quite often. Surprisingly this statement and logic is often applied to workers going on strike, but it also makes sense that it would be used in this case to influence the fence-sitters to the side of the top five percent rather then the people. What's wrong with this statement? Well, it ignores MUCH larger inconveniences that brought people to such action of striking, or blocking an interstate. What about the students who are going to have a hard time furthering the education next semester? What about the youth being thrown out into a world of unemployment? What about the worker facing wage cuts, benefit cuts,layoffs and outsourcing? What about the TAX-PAYER having their home foreclosed? You see, THE TAX-PAYER AND HARD WORKING PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS INCONVENIENCED, SCREWED OVER, AND IGNORED AT THE EXPENSE OF THE TOP 5 PERCENT OF THE GLOBAL POPULATION IN THIS CORPORATE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC STRUCTURE.

[memxavier]

09:30 AM on 03/09/2010

While I'm glad to see that most of these comments are sympathetic with the students/workers, I have seen a few cliche corporate propaganda logic and statements thrown around, which is understandable seeing that most Americans get their sources from 6 of the same exact companies, with the same exact interests and agendas. I'll address the one that stood out most to me, in my next post.

[BullhornJournal]

09:12 AM on 03/09/2010

I hate cops. Well, hate is a little strong. I intensely dislike, but only because under the armor and violence, domination and authoritarianism they are human beings.

Why? Because police are a group of people who don funny, matching outfits, do what they're told without question and busy themselves 'policing' poor and middle class people. The police forces were designed as a way to divide and crush popular rebellion at it's most nascent stages. (this is no secret, the history is clear) Actions like this are EXACTLY what the police forces were constructed to do, beat anyone who questions or impugns the functions of commerce.

In the few instances where cops are useful (domestic violence for instance) they are so poorly trained, equipped and backed by such weak laws (you see the priorities in importance of the wealthy classes by the laws that are actually in place) they often exacerbate the problem.

Humanity got along just fine before there was ever such a thing as an organized police force (it's a relatively new idea). I sincerely believe that without cops and their constant threat of violence and intimidation the incidence of crime would be much less.

How about we put those resources (between cop and fire there is hardly anything left for schools, so cops are also ironically regenerating their own 'need') toward policing the bastards ripping us all off, destroying our commonly held water and air? Oh, because there's a bunch of kids that need a good whoopin!

[netwonc]

04:16 AM on 03/09/2010

Fascism is alive and well in America, HIstory repeating itself. Isn't life a interesting journey. Thanks

[dovestrobe]

04:12 AM on 03/09/2010

Violence breeds violence. I wouldn't be surprised to find out next month that several "peace officers" from Oakland end up dead. This is a disgrace! What a malicious group of thugs! Inciting fear only makes me want to be there with the students begging the police to take another swing. I hate the Oakland Police Department for this act of war on our youth. Shame!!!

[FreeMarket25]

08:22 AM on 03/09/2010

Beggers can't be choosers. People the goverment is so generous with have no business demanding more handouts.

[bismillah001]

04:07 AM on 03/09/2010

2:58 -- Damn I didn't know you spelled "Get on the ground" with five baton blows.

[LegalCodex]

10:26 AM on 03/09/2010

one for each word in the sentence, plus one for the period.

[Harvee Wallbanger]

03:18 AM on 03/09/2010

This is very disturbing. Foul, foul, foul! If these police want to turn this into a full blown war, there is no better way to do it than by beating on our children. Suspend those officers without pay and fire the one in charge. And I hope you get your @ss sued off by everyone arrested or abused.