Berkeley and Richmond held protests advocating against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and U.S. intervention in Venezuela. The protests, one on the bridge over an overpass in Berkeley and one by Chevron’s Richmond refinery, each drew about 300 people Saturday, according to organizers.
At an overpass in West Berkeley, demonstrators protested an ICE officer’s shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on both Saturday and Sunday, according to the lead organizer of Indivisible East Bay’s, or IEB’s, Overpass Visibility Brigade, Jess Beebe.
On Saturday, protesters gathered by Chevron’s Richmond refinery to protest the company’s involvement in the Venezuelan oil trade and the country’s recent invasion by the U.S. military.
“The community sees how wrong these actions taken by the Trump administration (are),” said Richmond Progressive Alliance lead organizer Melvin Willis. “It’s important for us to show up and speak out against injustice whenever we see it, because it’s communities like Richmond who have refineries in their backyard at the end of the day who are going to be harmed and continue to be poisoned by those kinds of operations.”
According to Beebe, the overpass protest was estimated to be seen by people in about 30,000 cars across both days. The turnout of approximately 500 demonstrators this weekend was the highest turnout IEB has ever had for a protest. This action joins a series of protests across the country following Good’s death.
IEB’s Overpass Visibility Brigade was calling for “an immediate end to ICE terror in communities everywhere in the United States,” according to an email from Beebe. In the past, the brigade has done overpass events urging people to pass Prop 50 and “getting the word out” about the No Kings protests, hosting actions five days a week.
“We’ve heard from immigrants who believed no one cared about the threats they faced until they saw one of our messages and heard the drivers around them honking in support,” Beebe said in the email.
In Richmond, demonstrators protested Chevron’s involvement in the sale of Venezuelan oil following the Trump administration’s military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Richmond mayor Eduardo Martinez was one of the event’s speakers.
According to Ilonka Zlatar, California climate justice organizer for Oil and Gas Action Network, police blocked off the intersection leading up to the refinery, causing people to walk about 30 minutes to reach the protest. However, multiple organizers claimed during previous protests at the refinery that this intersection was not blocked off.
“This is a broader coalition than just people focused on fossil fuels or just people focused on democracy. Chevron, by supporting this action with Trump, is making itself a target for any group that cares about the protection of human rights and the environment and social justice,” said organizer Paul Paz y Miño. “I think you’re going to see more and more calls to boycott the company because of its actions in Venezuela specifically.”