Two Oakland Protesters Are Run Down And Police Let The Driver Go

Business Insider,

3 November, 2011

Oakland is in turmoil and as we parse apart this morning's reports, this story is at at the top of the heap.

Eyewitnesses on the ground report that the man in this picture drove his Mercedes into protesters after becoming frustrated by the delay the crowd was causing at an intersection.

Two people were struck and one dragged 30 feet. Reports are coming in that one of those injured has been critically hurt.

Witnesses say that once the car struck the protesters it attempted to speed up and drive through the central group of people but was unable to do so and stopped.

Surrounded by the angry crowd, who dumped coffee on the car and flagged down police, the man attempted to switch places with his woman passenger, but switched back when police arrived.

After briefly speaking to the couple, the police let them go without addressing the crowd. The crowd was stunned and comments that the Mercedes occupants were both white and the people struck both black are being made now.

We will update this story as confirmed reports come in.

Someone claiming to be on the ground when the incident happened Tweeted this to us: "They deserved to be run down. Were you there? They scared the hell out of those people. Pounded on hood."

The video does say volumes