Rol til that point, but now down to about seventh from sixth street, thats where the crowd started getting more and more unruly and thats with a cup started getting into their scrimmage lines and trying to forcefully remove people, declaring this an Unlawful Assembly. In taking steps to disperse the crowd physically. It looks like we have another protester down on the ground being arrested. Len, im watching this just like everybody else at home e maybnot althat famiar saa cla street,proxity of city hall to Police Station. Reporter the Police Station is several blocks away from city hall in the Old City Hall was one block away from the Police Department but several years ago city hall was moved downtown, so its probably two miles across the downtown area from a Police Department to city hall, so this is nowhere near the Police Department at this point. Santa clara street is obviously a busy, busy venue at this point of the afternoon on any day and its effectively close right now. Reporter santa clara street is closed, theres a lineup of cars being diverted around this area but theres probably 1000 or more people in the streets right now as well is a Police Department. I see one individual who , another female it looks like its being arrested, maybe two people are being arrested, so one by one police are starting to get some of the people who may be throwing things or physically touching officers and things like that, so its a big thing right now. If you are still with me, im walking away from the loudspeaker. Once again theyre calling it an Unlawful Assembly. I wanted to find out if there was, i know its gotten physical there, theres some pushing and shoving, we can clearly see that, have you seen any vandalism on santa clara . Its the lined with a lot of different buildings and businesses. Reporter im watching somebody spray paint you know, expletive pigs and things like that on the wall so theres going to be a lot of cleanup when this is over. I havent seen windows being brokut a t. Theres a lot more spectators than there are people in front of th Police Department. But it is probably 100 or 150 people but beyond them toward Fourth Street in City Hall Plaza theres maybe 1000 more back there. And they are just watching to see what goes on here. Every few minutes the police will move back a little bit and they will push and if anyone resists then those people are getting arrested on the spot and taken away. Theres probably been half a dozen people arrested so far and people who are being arrested do not appear to be resisting, they are down on the ground, they are getting handcuffed and being taken away. Its quite a Different Group from where you were a few hours ago, this group seems to have taken on a whole different demeanor, is the same group marching along 101 earlier or are these different people . Reporter these are the same folks that were on the freeway earlier. There may be more. Instead of just going home after that, after the freeway protest, he decided maybe they wanted to make a stand and make more of a statement so that appears to be what they are doing at the moment. We still see things from chopper 5, they are throwing things at the officers who were standing there, on their motorcycles so this crowd is clearly irritated, they are taunting so the whole thing is they want the crowd to disperse, so at this point its toe to toe. Reporter they are not dispersing at this point im not sure whats happening behind the scenes but im a certain that police chief garcia is sending in more troops, people from neighboring departments, weve seen a large contingent of the Santa Clara County sheriffs department, on the street here as well. Falthy twae lyre nt going to need a lot more officers. They do have plans for dispersing crowds like this that have worked in the past, but the problem is once you start dispersing the crowd and pushing them away, then the crowds get angry and they end up making windows of businesses and things like that so theres really no easy way out of a situation like this. Ive seen it happen before in downtown san jose. I wanted to mentioned there were probably 150 people, maybe more right there on the confrontation line that we can see on the right side of the screen, literally facing off with Police Officers facetoface, in the area milling about and protesting sort of back you say there could be as many as 1000 people in your estimation . Reporter sorry, we are getting moved back a little bit more. Police are firing. These weapons, im not sure exactly what their firing but itappears to be some sort of projectile to disperse the crowd, but having limited effect. No justice, no peace [ muffled crowd noises ] now weve got physical content going on between police and protesters. Police pushing the crowd back, but theres been resistance on both sided its app that there is at least one person, possibly two now that are down, maybe even several being arrested and apprehended by police. It goes in spurts. Reporter i just got hit with something. That was our reporter saying he got hit with something. Reporter its time to clear out. [ muffled crowd noises ] reporter they are starting the fire. They are firing directly reporter i dont know if you are still with me. We see your shots, we are right with you. Reporter can you hear me . Yes. Yes. Reporter shots are coming in a little bit more. Little more forcefully here. You can clearly see Police Officers firing into the crowd, it appears to be some sort of projectile that is intended to move people back, intended to stun people. Its not a lethal round in most cases but you get hit with one of those, you will know it right awayaapparently having the effect they want. The crowd is moving back a bit and police are advancing and as they advanced the crowd backs off. They have tasted the impact of those types of weapons and they are definitely having an effect on people. Ihear we n d noises ] still hear you, but if youre just joining us, this protest has obviously escalated from a peaceful protest that began at 3 00 at city hall, took over highway 101, shut down traffic in both directions, moved back down into downtown city hall or downtown san jose toward city hall and has now escalated into this, a violent confrontation between police and some of these protesters, these demonstrators who are protesting the death of george floyd in minneapolis at the hands, or more literally at the knee of a Police Officer in that city. For most of the afternoon, we did see the protesters keeping a safe distance with police but thats not happening now, as you can see theres some take downs and some scuffles going on and things being thrown in the crowd and thats when Police Declared this an Unlawful Assembly and thats when they had to start taking some action. Weve even seen several arrests live on camera as well when theyve gotten just too close. The arrests have not had the effect on the frontline of these protesters if you will who are facetoface, toe to toe in the face of Police Officers as they try to move them back, walking them backwards, no place in particular that theyre trying to get them to, they just wanted to go home as mayor liccardo said. [ muffled crowd noises ] now police seem to be on a quicker pace as things contin e throattheycontue to fire nol anbag type unds you wi the owd. Weve been talking about police force and deescalation tactics, but as the Police Chiefs were saying earlier, former police chief Howard Jordan and others, and it gets close like this, when it gets in your face and you start taunting the officers, they have to do something and as we go into the night they dont want this to escalate even more and weve already seen the arrest and the graffiti and now they are just taking a stand saying thats it, enough. Right there in the middle of this crowd i just saw and we will probably see him again is a gentleman in that sportcoat, the plaid sportcoat and that hat , the head of the naacp and he was down with the crowd taking any earlier in inrs, this crowd ared that was trying to encourage people to go ahead and backup. For folks just tuning in, we want to tell you that this is downtown san jose right in front of city hall and neighboring streets around it. Santa clara street and 4th, if youre wondering why that officer right there is firing, this has been declared an eagle and illegal assembly, and all lawful assert assembly and according to mayor liccardo on air on kpix 5, just about 25 or 30 minutes ago, officers have been inju in City Property has been damaged. This is why this crowd is being dispersed. Normally in any big city if theres a legal and nonviolent protest its allowed to continue in most cases. Ioweenliceofrsd peinonce goesp officials can declare it an Unlawful Assembly because now its violent, and once that happens and police have the green light to disperse the crowd if they will not disperse voluntarily, you can see the crowd is pretty fractionalizing now. Its diminished quite a bit as people got the message once those nonlethal rounds were being fired and hitting people that the police meant business and they wanted people to move back, so people are moving back, that line the police to set up, that do not crossline is holding now and you can see the motorcycle officers behind them as backup, but the crowd seems to have diminished quite a bit. A lot of the crowd is really on the sidelines, they are onlookers and they are wondering whats going to happen next, but when we talk we talk to maria medina who was in a position about a block away, she was still in a place where she and her photographer were not in a safe spot to be even able to get out of the news truck, they had seen the cd on other vehicles. Where waiting to hear from her, hopefully they relocated and they are okay, and lynn was caught up in the crowd and hes trying to reestablish a phone connection and i believe weve got him back. Len, are you okay . Maybe we didnt get him back. I can still hear you are in the midst of the main crowd. Reporter right. I think its noteworthy that these protests are going on not just in san jose, not just in minneapolis, they are going on all around the country, in most major cities in los angeles, and san francisco, in berkeley, in oakland, they are going on almost every big major city in this topic of Police Brutality led Police Violence is really not something thats going to be settled today, but people are speaking out and they are doing it in sometimes violent fashion and sometimes peaceful fashion. E se being p out in different ways all around the country. Reporter to your point, Alameda County in oakland preparing to have what is supposed to be a peaceful protest this evening and the acting police chief even quoted saying we support you, we understand this is your right and we will allow that. No violence or destruction or officers will have to take action, and that was her clear stance on that, so each county preparing and obviously this isnt just san jose alone thats going to be having this breakouts and its universal statement that so many people are making right now. Every other city where they start out as a peaceful protest, we saw that with this one, it was a peaceful demonstration in the marsh from city hall and all of a got inre once they hit the streets and they started getting intonfront police felt under attack, they were attacked, there was vandalism to city hall and vehicles and arrests were made. Len ramirez who is on the ground reported projectiles being thrown, Water Bottles and different objects at police, once that starts hnaptope then police are going to clear the street one way or another. And the city leaders, when we asked mayor liccardo, what is your take now and what you say to the residents of your jurisdiction that are out there protesting and obviously in harms way, of officers having to react, he was sa support a protest, a peaceful one, but when it gets to this point, he was saying please go homeit. Im descltoare e is a statement a they feel its not being heard or if there protest isnt being adequately seen or visibly taken into account, they are not going to go home. I believe weve established the cell phone connection with len ramirez again. I hope you are back with us, i know youve been in the middle of all of this, but as we were saying, it doesnt appear that the crowd is dispersing and thats what the city and the police want is they want to clear the streets and have people go home. Reporter there dispersing every time these officers fire these projectiles but then they come right back, so the frequency of the rounds, the volleys from the Police Department are increasing. I was hit with one of them, nothing serious, its like a disk, maybe an inch or two inches wide, at least thats what i was hit with from the Police Department, but they are increasing the number of shots that they are ring ery timey do fire one of those things, people dive out of the way, now many people are throwing Water Bottles at the Police Department, so another round of shots will probably be fired from the scrimmage line there. It looks like there was maybe another rest or two arrest or two and now theres a car caught right in the middle of this and somebody, i dont know what. Theres something going on in the middle. Reporter summary brought in it looks like a 12 pack, so now theyre starting to throw bottles. Thats not good, theyre throwing glass bottles at the Police Department and that is not going to be good in terms of response. Somebody came up with a car and brought out what looked like a 12 or 24 pack of bottles so we are going to have a little bit of warfare back and forth now with things being thrown, dangerous projectiles from the crowd, being hurled at the Police Officers and the officers returning fire with those projectiles. Im standing right in the middle of San Jose City hall where all of this is happening in the street right in front of me. This construction site right across the street so if the crowd gets into that area, you can imagine the pipes and tools and things that are in that area that might be employed by the unruly crowd. Fortunately they are not going in there, but people are hurling these bottles with force so the Police Department is not going to stand around and just let that happen. Were going to see some heavier tactics im sure in the next few minutes. And this is all playing out right in front of city hall, what started out as a peaceful protest is now becoming much more violent. Back to you. And looking at these pictures from chopper 5 and theres no longer a real line of Police Officers with a lot of protesters, there are people gathering and they are facing off, but not like it was before, and off to the left theres a plaza, the City Hall Plaza at the wide open space and there are a lot more people milling about in that area. To the right of that is that vehicle that you say now we can see actually moving, the vehicle is beginning to leave now that was apparently supplying bottles that were being thrown at police. We could actually see the reporter im sorry, its a little hard to hear what youre saying. A new group of people appeared to maybe drive in and rush up to the current line with the Police Department so we are waiting to see if that turns into anything, but the crowd is not dispersing as this protest continues in front of city hall in san jose. From chopper 5, obviously the crowd not dispersing but theyre clearly not charging the officers right now and there is some sort of space that has been designated, so no one is crossing the line per se but we kind of see its hit or miss her touch and go sometimes. Reporter yeah, its pretty touch and go especially when the shots were being fired from the Police Department. Theyre doing itpr om pointblank range at some of the crowd. I was hit by one of them in the back as i was ng come up to me and said theres a burn mark snothing serious, no blood or nothing to dont worry but it does go to show you that they are firing shots into the crowd indiscriminately in some places and i know the dangers of being in a situation like this and trying to be as safe as possible but there are instances where shots have been fired and people have been hit. Im just trying to be logical and wary as much as i can be. Im sure it more than got your attention, but police, as juliet was pointing out, there is a line of protesters, but its not four or five deep like we saw earlier, we do see a lot of people in the plaza and we do see a lot of people seemingly waiting to see what the next move is. Reporter it just seems like the protest was one thing, but now it seems like people who came out earlier maybe have gone away or are taking a backseat to some of the more agitators that are coming out and going into confrontation with the Police Department. There does not appear to be any pushback right now, the Police Department has held the line here at fifth street, fifth and santa clara and now here comes the more Police Officers, a police car is coming to the crowd and people are throwing projectiles and bottles that it as it came through the crowd. We can see that. Reporter the traffic that was stopped here, they were hitting some of the other cars that happen to be in traffic. Inside this scrimmage area that has been set aside by the Police Department, that car that juswent through got attacked and now people are going, people are trying to break down the fence, like i predicted, theyre trying to break down the fence to the construction site and they are going to start looting that construction site for any sort of tools and now the cops are starting to move in a little more. They saw that happening, but people were trying to break down this fence for the construction site. Theres a big condo compx here. And if the protesters get into that, theres a huge crane, about 20 stories and if they start running amok in there, were going to have a very dangerous situation. A group of people started trying to break down the fence, i can see more people trying to break down the fence and now theyve broken through. People have broken to the fence and theyre saying come on in and now we are going to have some real trouble, because we are seeing a bunch of people, this is a full on riot, people are now getting 4 x 4s, two by fours, there getting pipes and tools, they have just broken in and its going to be a free for all and were going to have real trouble here because they are getting battering ram type 4 x 4s and things like that. Its about to escalate. The Police Department has not responded, theyre pretty much letting the crowd go through, somebody found a fire extinguisher. Somebody is discharging the fire extinguisher in the crowd now maybe cooler heads are have prevailed and are trying to reestablish that construction fence. It looks like some construction workers showed up. Reporter the fence has been restored by cooler heads in the crowd which is a good thing. Because for a while people were running in there. There were construction workers on the other side of the fence tried to reinforce the fence and get it back up and position and it looks like they might have succeeded. Reporter i see a couple construction workers and their hardhats now. They were obscured the crowd from what i could see, so the construction workers veestadthe which is a good thing, so the standoff continues here on santa clara street. With police not really pushing the crowd at this point, theyve kind of stopped at fifth street and the crowd does not appear to be dispersing, most people just watching, spectating, a few people still throwing things in the Police Department yelling, but there havent been as many shots fired in the last few minutes then there had been before. I have a question for you, i want to find out if there has been anybody injured that you can tell, and what im specifically referring to is police had been firing into the crowd with projectiles, nonlethal projectiles, to move the crowd back an sowhat successful inne liit and you were hit in the back with one of those projectiles, im sure you felt it, and somebody as you noted said you had a burn mark on your back, the back of your shirt. Im wondering youve seen on reporter i was hit during