Hundreds at Sacramento City Hall Protest Police Killing of Stephon Clark Favorite 

Hundreds of protesters temporarily took over the main foyer at Sacramento City Hall on Tuesday evening to protest the death of Stephon Clark, who was fatally shot by two Sacramento police officers last week in his grandmother’s backyard while they investigated a vandalism complaint.

The City Council held a special meeting Tuesday evening to hear public comments about the shooting; it was a night of tears for many, and a night of rage for others. As black community leaders explained their frustrations to the city’s leadership within the council’s public chamber — which proceeded largely uninterrupted — about 300 protesters outside in the foyer chanted raucously, while police officers clad in riot gear looked on.

“You shoot us down, we shut you down!” they shouted.

At the top of the meeting, Mayor Darrell Steinberg spoke emphatically about the anger and grief in the community and promised to press the Police Department for answers about the protocols and policies that led to Mr. Clark’s death.
Sgt. Vance Chandler of the Sacramento Police Department said that as of about 8:30 p.m. local time, the police had made one arrest outside City Hall in connection to crowds there.

“Tensions are very high,” he said, “and people are angry.”

Sergeant Chandler also confirmed that protesters had stormed the doors of the Golden 1 Center, forcing Sacramento Kings officials to close them for the second time in a week.

In a tweet, the basketball team said ticket holders who were unable to enter the arena would receive refund information. A similar sequence of events occurred last Thursday.

The ambiguous circumstances surrounding Mr. Clark’s death have stirred grief, rage and fear among black people in California’s capital who feel they are regularly discriminated against by the city and county Police Departments.

Dawnya Walker, 43, had never attended a political protest in her life, let alone a City Council meeting, but she waited outside City Hall on Tuesday with a new urgency to speak her mind about black lives and black pain.

“I’m tired of the same old story over and over again,’’ she said. “We need to see a change. There are a lot of people who just don’t understand. I’m hearing, he shouldn’t have run. That’s not a crime worth being gunned down. And we run because we’re scared because they have the right to shoot us, they get away with it every day.”