Verdicts Spark Protests, Violence Across California : Reaction: Most rallies are peaceful. But there are fires in Riverside County, angry rampages in the Bay Area and a temporary shutdown of the Bay Bridge.

Outrage over the verdicts in the Rodney G. King case rumbled to California’s most distant corners Thursday as protesters temporarily shut down the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, set destructive arson fires in Riverside County and went on a looting binge that led to arrests and at least one injury in Berkeley.

Most rallies across California were peaceful, involving students and community members who felt a need to vent frustration, denounce the Los Angeles police force and commiserate over the stunning acquittals. But in some areas tempers flared and gatherings turned violent.

In response, some jittery residents began arming themselves Thursday. Gun dealers from Orange County to San Francisco reported a surge in business. Salesmen speculated that customers were fearful.

Outside Los Angeles, the largest and angriest protests Thursday raged in the Bay Area. Rampages in Berkeley, San Jose and San Francisco led to at least 75 arrests, and about 400 marchers snarled the evening commute when they forced police to close some lanes on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for several hours.

Earlier in the day, 700 Berkeley High School students walked out of class and marched with their principal to the Berkeley Police Station. There, they were addressed by Police Chief Dash Butler, who tried to calm the crowd by assuring the students that his officers “didn’t like the court decision” in the King case by a Simi Valley jury Wednesday.

Some students returned to class, but at least 75 were apparently not mollified and embarked on a brief looting rampage on nearby Telegraph Avenue. The marauders attacked a bicyclist, leaving him with facial injuries that required hospital treatment, and invaded a Gap store, dashing out with armfuls of clothing. Berkeley police arrested one juvenile for looting.

In San Jose, police made eight arrests after 100 people staged an early morning protest march from the campus of San Jose State University. The marchers tipped over three university police motorcycles, threw rocks and bottles at officers, and then headed downtown, where they robbed a bystander, pelted motorists with debris and shattered the windows of 10 businesses.

San Jose Police Chief Lou Cobarruviaz conceded that the protest had caught the department off guard.

“We didn’t anticipate we’d have major problems here,” he said. Those arrested included five San Jose State students, as well as a laborer, a shipping clerk and a mechanic, police said.

In San Francisco, officials briefly closed Interstate 280 after protesters spilled onto the freeway from the campus of San Francisco State University. Later, several hundred people milled around 19th Avenue, a major thoroughfare near the campus, forcing closure of the street. Police made 65 arrests.

Closer to Los Angeles, authorities in Perris--a semirural city of 30,000 in southwestern Riverside County--blamed several arsons on King-related rioting. In the most serious episode, fire destroyed the Cat Ballou, a popular, country-Western nightclub. There were no injuries, but owners estimated their losses at $1.6 million.

Earlier, Molotov cocktails were tossed at a Perris optometrist’s office and at a Richie’s diner, causing minor damage. In response, Perris Police Chief Joel Patton canceled days off for his 30-member force and instituted 12-hour shifts.

“I think this is crooks doing what crooks do best,” Patton said as he watched smoke billow from the Cat Ballou club. “They want to go out and ‘get even.’ All they’re doing is taking jobs away from people.”

In San Diego, more than 200 high school students marched almost four miles to a neighboring school, where they joined about 100 other students in a rally to protest the King verdicts.

“We want everyone to understand that we’re upset but we don’t want anyone hurt,” said Morse High School junior Ajamu Edmonson, one of the rally planners.

The students were addressed by City Councilman George Stevens, a civil rights firebrand in the 1960s, who praised them for channeling their anger in a productive manner.

At other San Diego schools, teachers scrapped lesson plans to talk about the verdict and the violence that followed. Tensions were generally few, but schools Police Chief Alex Rascon said a few fistfights spurred rumors of riots that brought several parents rushing to campus to check on their children’s safety.

Elsewhere in California, indignation mostly was confined to university campuses.

At UC Berkeley, about 1,700 students united in an angry rally that featured impromptu speeches and chants of “Hey, hey, ho, ho, LAPD Got to Go.” The protesters marched around campus and through the streets of Berkeley. Some joined other protesters outside the Berkeley Police Department, and a few demonstrators hurled bricks through the building’s windows.

By late afternoon, about 300 Berkeley students and community members had marched to the toll plaza on the Bay Bridge. Authorities were forced to close all westbound traffic lanes as the marchers filled the lanes. Westbound commuters were slowed to a crawl.

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said he had no information on the number of arrests but said the protesters would probably be cited and released.

One of the marchers, Barbara Smith, said she was “outraged” by the King verdicts.

“This is ridiculous,” said Smith, 30, a counselor. “This is supposed to be America, not South Africa. This is a battle we all have to fight.”

At Humboldt State University in Arcata, 1,000 students joined in a faculty-sponsored protest, and dozens later took part in a teach-in on racism. Sociology Prof. Caleb Rosado, a rally organizer, called it one of the largest demonstrations in the school’s history.

“Students are hurt, angry and frustrated, and we wanted to let them voice their feelings,” Rosado said. “Many of them are wondering what has happened to the America they have been taught about. They want to work for the kind of America that is fair and just for everyone.”

At UC Irvine, about 500 students of all ethnic backgrounds demonstrated their unhappiness with the verdict, marching in a long, snaking line through campus and along nearby streets in the community, chanting, “No Justice! No Peace!” and “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” and shaking their fists in the air.

While the protesters expressed outrage over the verdict, few condoned the violence gripping Los Angeles.

“They’re reacting out of emotion and anger,” said Darnise R. Williams, 22, an English and comparative literature major who grew up in South-Central Los Angeles and has family and friends there. “They don’t realize that they are hurting our community. They are taking jobs. Where are people going to buy food with all those stores wrecked now? The students can’t go to school. This is not the way to react.”

Williams said she “sat in front of the television in tears” Wednesday night as she watched angry people breaking windows and beating other people. She said she feels guilty walking the shady, peaceful pathways of the campus when her loved ones are surrounded by turmoil.

About 250 students held a noon rally at UC Davis, and 200 gathered in a park for speeches at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

At UC Riverside--where vandals tossed Molotov cocktails at several University of California parking vehicles before dawn Thursday--about 100 students marched from campus through downtown, chanting, “The people, united, will not be defeated.”