Altercation breaks out at Walnut Creek protest

A group of somewhere between 100 and 200 people are protesting in Walnut Creek Saturday night. Videos posted to social media have captured diners being disrupted, at least one altercation and graffiti found spray painted on sidewalks and business fronts.

According to a Twitter post, the event was billed as a “No Justice, No Peace, Night Protest in Walnut Creek” that was scheduled to begin Saturday at 7 p.m. at the intersection of Lacassie Avenue and Locust Street.

Field reporter Peter Kay told SFBay that an altercation broke out between protesters and another random person near the Bourbon Highway restaurant on the 1600 block of North Main Street. The group burned Trump and Gadsden flags on the sidewalk near the front of the restaurant when the other person approached and threw some of the burning material onto a protester’s back, which can be seen in a video posted by another pro-Trump user.

The person was shoved back and down onto the street, but no serious injuries were reported and police did not respond to the scene. Kay said he didn’t witness any property destruction aside from the graffiti, some of which spelled out “abolish” and “fuck 12” at City Hall.

The city’s police have been under fire since 23-year-old Miles Hall was killed by officers in June 2019 while Hall was suffering a mental health crisis. Walnut Creek settled with Hall’s family for $4 million in September of this year, though Taun Hall, Miles Hall’s mother said at the time:

“The settlement is not justice for Miles, there’s no justice here today, we will find justice when we find other opportunities and other ways that our loved ones can get help and they don’t have to call the police.”

Walnut Creek police had not responded to a request for comment about Saturday night’s event by the time this article was published.