A protest that began at San Jose City Hall and spilled onto Highway 101 on Friday escalated as police officers began shooting gas canisters to disperse crowds in downtown.

Protesters gathering in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd — an African-American man killed in Minneapolis this week — stopped traffic in both directions on Highway 101 and on city streets Friday afternoon.

The demonstration lasted for about three hours before some police officers began jabbing protestors with batons around 5 p.m. Eventually they used what appeared to be tear gas to disperse the crowd before forcibly taking one man into custody as he neared a police line at the intersection.

Police officers formed a line at Eighth and Santa Clara streets, with one officer declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly before demanding protesters disperse. Some police began firing rubber bullets at protestors while demonstrators chucked water bottles and other objects toward the line of officers.

At one point, an officer who appeared to be struck by an object fired by a protestor fell to the ground and was carried away from the area and helped to his feet by three officers and a civilian. Police have not given any information on the officer’s condition.

After the protest started at city hall around 2 p.m., demonstrators fanned out around downtown San Jose. More than 200 marched along Santa Clara Street, weaving around cars and delivery trucks that were honking in support, while about 100 stationed themselves at City Hall plaza. A car circled downtown with the words of Martin Luther King Jr. — “sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression” — ringing out from the speakers.

The protest continued into the 6 p.m. hour as police officers steadily pushed protestors back toward city hall, where they began kneeling down in rows and chanting, “What’s his name? George Floyd.”

San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo expressed support for the protest on Twitter but warned that police would not tolerate violence.

Jane Marin and her daughter Deja Richard, 12, of East San Jose, heard about the protest on Facebook and arrived Friday afternoon to march.

“I feel like this is a sad way to introduce my daughter into reality,” Marin said, adding that her daughter’s father is black. Richard said she wasn’t quite sure how she was feeling about the protest yet.

Behind her, streams of people walked away from the intersection where protestors and police cars had faced each other minutes earlier.

“I’m sad,” Richard said. “I’m sad.”

Video taken on Highway 101 showed at least one protester smashing car windows, though there is no indication whether any other protesters resorted to violence against the cars stopped on the freeway.

In a statement provided to this news organization, the San Jose police department said it was “aware of the planned protest in downtown San Jose. Officers will be assigned to the event to ensure everyone’s safety. We do not provide specifics regarding the number of officers and/or tactics that are operational in nature.”

Fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was taken into custody Friday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Floyd, according to an announcement from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

In a video, Chauvin was seen driving his knee into Floyd’s neck while Floyd shouted, “I can’t breathe.” He eventually went limp and was later declared dead.

“The ongoing killings of non-violent black men in America is more than just tragic — it’s part of the culture of the country,” longtime San Jose civil rights leader Walter Wilson said. “The fact that even though we have video cameras and it’s still ongoing makes it even more disturbing.”

Wilson, the CEO at the Silicon Valley Minority Business Consortium, cited President Trump’s rhetoric as a catalyst for violence against the black community in the United States.

“Our lives really don’t matter, black people, particularly black men, our lives have no value in this country or very little,” Wilson said. “The whole opportunity for this stuff to exist and proliferate under this current administration, this president gives air and oxygen to what’s happening toward black people.”

San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia became one of the first law enforcement officials in the country to denounce Chauvin’s use of force on Wednesday when he tweeted that he wouldn’t hide behind not being on the scene.

“What I saw happen to George Floyd disturbed me and is not consistent with the goal of our mission,” Garcia said. “The act of one, impacts us all.”

A large demonstration is expected to begin at 8 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland. It’s billed as the Minneapolis Solidarity Demonstration and is one of at least three protests planned in the city this weekend.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom opened an hour-long press briefing Friday with remarks aimed at promoting racial unity around the state and country and an assertion that “we have to be more resolved now than ever to do more and be better.”

“You’ve got to change culture,” Newsom said. “You’ve got to change people’s hearts and minds. It’s not just laws on the books. We’ve got to change who we are and recognize what we are capable of being.”

Newsom began his press briefing 10 minutes late after pausing to watch President Trump’s remarks from the White House Friday.

Trump did not address Floyd’s killing.

Staff writer Linda Zavoral contributed to this story.