It's sunset now, and I can hear the CHP helicopter still orbiting the Capitol. Sirens earlier. The protests began this morning and are still going on. The local TV stations seem to be trying to ignore it all, but the Sacramento Bee newspaper has some text and video (simple paywall, you know the drill). Lots of angry faces and yelling, people facing off with lines of cops. Reports of broken windows, and anti-police graffiti on state buildings.

Only one arrest reported, and most violence reported has come from the cops (mostly CHP) using pepper spray, teargas, and flashbangs. Protesters have returned fire with water bottles, which strikes me as strangely compassionate toward cops that have been standing in the sun all day in black uniforms. In contrast, the last few major demonstrations have involved rightwing extremists, aggressive and violent, and lots of arrests (32 at one).

Sacramento's a political town, strongly liberal, and people know how to protest, how to walk the fine line. The cops generally seem to know the score, and I suspect they see their role as necessary targets for rage about police brutality in another city. Not that Sacramento's hands are clean in that regard, but our protests, at least, tend to be nonviolent.

More if the protests continue into the night.