SF protesters denounce killings by police, stress peace

People gather in Justin Herman Plaza to protest police brutality in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, July 8, 2016. People gathered to protest two recent deaths by the hands of police officers in Minnesota and Louisiana. less People gather in Justin Herman Plaza to protest police brutality in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, July 8, 2016. People gathered to protest two recent deaths by the hands of police officers in Minnesota and ... more Photo: James Tensuan, Special To The Chronicle Photo: James Tensuan, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 52 Caption Close SF protesters denounce killings by police, stress peace 1 / 52 Back to Gallery

Protesters outraged by the police killings of two African American men in Louisiana and Minnesota gathered to demonstrate in downtown San Francisco and march to City Hall on Friday night, a day after five people were arrested during an Oakland rally of about 2,000 activists who shut down Interstate 880 for hours.

More than 1,000 protesters gathered at the foot of Market Street under a huge banner that read, “Stop the Racist Police Terror in the U.S.”

‘Remain peaceful’

Speakers at the rally were calling for a peaceful observance after five police officers in Dallas were fatally shot Thursday by a sniper during a peaceful rally in that city, one of several rallies and marches across the U.S. held to protest the two shootings by police.

“More than anything else, remain peaceful,” said Lawrence Shine of the Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition of San Francisco, addressing the gathering crowd. “Violence in response to violence will beget more violence.”

“Our anger must be controlled and strategic,” he added. “Love will overcome hate.”

Oakland activist Aejay Mitchell read aloud what he called an open letter to police.

“Yes, I want you to live and go home to your families, but I also want to live and go home to my family,” Mitchell declared. “Please stop killing us.”

Edwin Carmona-Cruz of the social justice group Answer Coalition said his heart “does go out to those five police officers who were killed — though we can’t forget why we’re here.”

San Francisco hunger striker Edwin Lindo, one of five who fasted during the spring in an attempt to force the removal of former Police Chief Greg Suhr, told the crowd, “I don’t want to keep coming here — I want to make sure we don’t have to be back here.”

After a half hour of speeches, the crowd — which had grown to more than 1,000 — began marching down Market Street to the cadence of a loud large drum.

“No justice, no peace, no racist police!” the crowd hollered.

Near the head of the march was Destiny Williams, 17, of Petaluma, who was holding a stop sign to which she had added, at the bottom, the words “Corrupt Cops.”

“I don’t think I can sit here and not do anything,” she said. “Just because we want justice and we don’t want our people to be shot down doesn’t mean we hate police officers.”

When the march reached Market and Powell streets, the crowd — which had now grown to about 2,000 — sat down in the middle of the street while speakers read a list of names of people they said had been killed in officer-involved shootings.

Police at City Hall

After a march of about an hour, the crowd arrived at City Hall, where a small line of police blocked the entrance to City Hall and a larger group of officers monitored the crowd from the rear.

By 10:30 p.m., the protest was winding down.

Protester Gwenth Kenny, 29, of San Francisco — who was holding a sign that read, “Pro Black is Not Anti-Blue” — said that Black Lives Matter is “not about hating police, it’s about equality.”

Other sponsors of the march and rally were the Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition, San Francisco Black Leadership Forum, San Francisco Black Lives Matter and West County Toxics Coalition.

The collective action comes after the deaths over the past week of Philando Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at a magnet school, and Alton Sterling, who sold CDs outside of the convenience store where he was shot.

Sterling, 37, was killed Tuesday in a scuffle with two police officers in Baton Rouge, La. Video footage showed Sterling was pinned to the ground by officers when he was shot. Castile, 32, was shot Wednesday during a traffic stop in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights, Minn.

Thursday night’s protest in downtown Oakland resulted in five arrests and one citation after starting in Frank Ogawa Plaza, heading to the Oakland Police Department and moving to Interstate 880. Another rally and demonstration that some said would take place Friday in Oakland did not occur.

Vandalism in Oakland

Oakland police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said one person was arrested on suspicion of vandalism Thursday after the glass doors of the department’s administration building were scratched, broken and covered in red paint to symbolize blood.

The department expected to make more arrests in connection with the vandalism.

Two people were arrested for throwing water bottles at police officers during the rally, and one person was arrested for burglary. One person was arrested and a citation was issued for graffiti incidents at Chase Bank at 14th and Broadway and another on columns in the 1000 block of Broadway.

None of the arrested suspects was identified.

Other incidents Thursday night include a small fire on I-880 that was quickly extinguished and broken windows at the Foot Locker store on Broadway.

Chronicle staff writer

Steve Rubenstein contributed to this report.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno