Several hundred people gathered Sunday evening at Broadway and 14th Street in downtown Oakland to denounce police violence “from the Bay to Tennessee” and to call for an end to police traffic stops that disproportionately target Blck people, two days after the Memphis police department released a video showing multiple officers tasing, pepper-spraying, and brutally beating Tyre Nichols during a traffic stop on Jan. 7. Nichols died from the injuries three days later.

Community members gather at a rally organized by the Anti Police-Terror Project in downtown Oakland on Jan. 29, 2023, in solidarity with the family of Tyre Nichols who was killed by police officers in Memphis. Credit: Daniel Danzig
Several hundred community members joined the rally on Sunday night on 14th and Broadway, demanding an end to police violence against Black people. Credit: Daniel Danzig
A demonstrator holds a sign at the rally against police brutality in downtown Oakland on Jan. 29, 2023. Credit: Daniel Danzig
A family holds a handmade sign at the rally on Sunday night in downtown Oakland. Credit: Daniel Danzig

Newly elected Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price was among those who attended the rally organized by the Anti Police-Terror Project. She called on the crowd to both support her efforts and to hold her accountable for promises she has made to champion police reform. “I will take on police unions that resist change. We will hold police accountable. They do not own the streets.”

District Attorney Pamela Price speaks at a rally in downtown Oakland on Jan. 29, 2023, supporting justice for Tyre Nichols and calling for an end to police violence against Black people. Credit: Daniel Danzig

Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, Oscar Grant’s uncle, also attended the rally. He called on the crowd to continue their efforts to demand an end to police brutality. Grant, 22, was killed on Jan. 1, 2009, by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter. 

Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, the uncle of Oscar Grant, addresses the crowd at the protest denouncing police violence in downtown Oakland on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023. Credit: Daniel Danzig
Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson stands with Taun Hall, the mother of Miles Hall, who was shot and killed by Walnut Creek police officers on Jun 2, 2019, in downtown Oakland during a rally against police violence on Jan. 29, 2023. Credit: Daniel Danzig
A community member holds a sign at the demonstration on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023 in downtown Oakland. Credit: Daniel Danizig
A community member holds a hand-painted sign calling for justice at the demonstration on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, in downtown Oakland, two days after Memphis police released video footage of officers lethally beating Tyre Nichols. Credit: Daniel Danizig