Demonstrators protesting a grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer in the fatal shooting of a black Missouri teenager briefly shut down the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Nobel Drive in La Jolla early Nov. 26.
The California Highway Patrol dispatch received a call of demonstrators in the traffic lanes of Interstate 5 northbound at Nobel Drive about 6:50 a.m. “…[P]atrol officers,” officer Jake Sanchez said, “responded swiftly to the scene and were able to get the roadway open in a timely manner. Demonstrators obeyed directions from officers immediately and left the freeway.”
Sanchez warned that such protests pose a public safety threat.
“Anytime pedestrians enter the freeway, they pose a serious risk of injury or death to themselves and to the motoring public,” he said. “We encourage citizens that are demonstrating to do it peacefully and safely to minimize injury to anyone.”
According to broadcast reports, about 40 people took part in the protest, planned by the university’s Black Student Union the night before. One unidentified man with a bullhorn purportedly urged protestors on while several carrying signs saying “Black lives matter” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” lined up across the freeway. The protestors were objecting to a Missouri grand jury’s decision not to charge Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 Ferguson, Mo. shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed but allegedly came at the officer and at one point tried to take his service weapon.?Moments before, Wilson had ordered Brown and a friend off a roadway and onto the sidewalk as they were walking.
A news helicopter shot video footage of motorists on the gridlocked freeway leaving their vehicles to confront protestors, who reportedly had placed orange cones across the freeway, forcing vehicles to stop in all lanes and both shoulders, which made police access difficult.
About 7:18 a.m., two dozen CHP patrol cars reportedly drove down an off-ramp onto freeway lanes and officers director protestors to leave, which they promptly did walking up the ramp to Nobel Drive dispersing toward UC San Diego.
No one was arrested or cited by police, Sanchez said.
The Nobel Drive off-ramp remained closed until about 9 a.m. The freeway was reopened a few minutes later. Similar protests shut down a freeway in City Heights Tuesday night.
The protests came on the heels of another demonstration at UCSD. A few dozen students vowed Nov. 24 to continue to occupy the campus’ Peterson lecture hall as part of ongoing protests against state system tuition increases recently approved by University of California regents.
The regents last week approved a plan that will increase tuition by 5 percent each year for five years unless lawmakers in Sacramento substantially increase the system’s budget. The hike would add $612 to the cost of attending a University of California school, increasing tuition to $12,804 for in-state students in the 2015-16 school year. Tuition would rise to $15,564 by fall of 2019 under the plan. That cost does not include local campus fees, books, room and meals. – Staff and contribution