East Bay demonstrator bruised but believes in peaceful protest

Zak Wear, 25, left, recovers from getting two shot injections into his gums as Dr. Maya Eydelman, right, looks over his dental records at Icon Dental Dec. 11, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Wear lost two teeth after he was attacked on Tuesday night by people after he tried to put out a dumpster fire that was set during a protest march through Berkeley and Oakland. Wear is an advocate for peaceful protest. less Zak Wear, 25, left, recovers from getting two shot injections into his gums as Dr. Maya Eydelman, right, looks over his dental records at Icon Dental Dec. 11, 2014 in San Francisco, Calif. Wear lost two teeth ... more Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close East Bay demonstrator bruised but believes in peaceful protest 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Zak Wear believes it’s his civic duty to step into the street and lend his voice to the antipolice protests that have swept the nation and the Bay Area.

Only next time he does it, he’s not going alone. And, the 25-year-old graduate seminary student from Richmond will have two new front teeth.

Vandals knocked out Wear’s teeth in a vicious beating caught on video during the protests Tuesday that began in Berkeley and spilled into Oakland. They beat him because he tried to put out a garbage fire. He tried to tell them violence was muddling up their message.

“I was marching for the aggregate sense of justice for (Eric) Garner and (Michael) Brown and I think that the real reason to have this demonstration is to create a sense of urgency around political engagement and consciousness,” Wear said.

The trouble started as Wear, who went to the protests solo, plucked burning boxes from a Dumpster sitting in the middle of Telegraph Avenue near 21st Street in Oakland. “This is not how we do this,” he said as he tried to stomp out the fire. “This is absolutely not how we do this.”

His demeanor was calm and peaceful, but it did not prevent what happened next.

An unidentified female bicyclist rolled up and began arguing with him — a tirade that attracted the attention of the men who would assault him.

The heated discussion, Wear thought, was fine “because that’s how culture change happens.”

“It never crossed my mind at all that a demonstrator would strike another demonstrator,” he said.

But the confrontation quickly escalated. The woman screamed at Wear: “Leave these kids alone, leave the barricades alone and go the f— home!”

A masked demonstrator approached Wear and yelled, “You wanna be po-lice?”

And with that turn of the phrase, Wear had become an enemy, a target.

He was surrounded and three masked men beat him from all sides. Wear’s eyeglasses flung off into the large trash bin.

When the beating stopped, blood was gushing from Wear’s mouth.

“My two top teeth are pretty much gone, my ear was cut and my scalp is bruised,” Wear said the next day. “I was just pleading with them to allow me to find my glasses.”

Wear spent much of the day Thursday undergoing painful dental procedures. He said he was in pain. But his top concern was this: He believes peaceful and powerful demonstrations can still be achieved — and must be achieved.

The message is too important to allow bullies to dilute it with violence and stupidity.

“In the Bay Area, we have a corps of bullies who are running the show at these demonstrations,” Wear said. “They’re not necessarily provocateurs, but people with their own vision of change — and it includes violent confrontation.

“It was not an impassioned bunch,” he added. “These men wanted to maliciously show me who was boss, at least that’s the way it was articulated to me.”

Bruised, but unbowed, Wear said he will march again, but not alone.

I’m astounded by Wear’s ability to turn the other cheek, but even he recognizes the difference between peaceful protest and what’s playing out in our cities. He’s the second protester in Berkeley this week assaulted by violent groups for trying to promote peace. The first guy got hit with a hammer.

Wear has a message for the people who come out night after night to create problems within a peaceful crowd: “If you have so little fire in your heart for this movement that you have to light one, you’re the one who needs to get off the street.”

Chip Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns run Tuesday and Friday. E-mail chjohnson@sfchronicle.com