A rally will be held in Oakland today to protest the fatal shooting of barbershop owner Derrick Jones by two Oakland police officers on Nov. 8.
Oakland police said the officers shot Jones, 37, after they responded to a report that he was assaulting a woman at a laundromat next to his barbershop in the 5800 block of Bancroft Avenue.
Police said Jones refused repeated orders to surrender and was reaching into his waistband, which the officers thought indicated that he was reaching a gun. But no weapon was found at the scene.
The rally, organized by the activist group By Any Means Necessary, will begin outside the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office at 1231 Fallon St. at 4 p.m.
Protesters will then march to Oakland City Hall, where they plan to speak at the City Council meeting scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
In addition to protesting the fatal shooting of Jones, rally participants also will speak out against a bid by former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle to be granted bail while he appeals his involuntary manslaughter conviction for fatally shooting unarmed passenger Oscar Grant III at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on Jan. 1, 2009.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry is slated to consider Mehserle’s bail motion at a hearing on Friday.
Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News
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