NYPD charge BLM protesters standing among diners in Manhattan as Portland erupts in violence

1.4k

View
comments

Chaos and vicious clashes between police and BLM protesters erupted in New York City, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and Louisville Saturday night, days after it was announced that the officers who shot Breonna Taylor would not be charged in her death.

In New York City locals enjoying outdoor dining got caught in scuffles between the NYPD and BLM protesters as officers charged towards demonstrators hiding among restaurant customers. 

Shocking video from the scene shows the outdoor seating area of the Cowgirl eaterie in Manhattan’s West Village suddenly inundated with officers who flung protesters to the ground and pushed crowds away.  

Across the country in Seattle and Portland, there were similar anarchic scenes as protesters blocked off intersections by setting dumpsters ablaze, officers fired pepper spray, and demonstrators were cuffed by police as nationwide protests continued for a fourth night. 

The impassioned protests demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old black EMT who was shot in her Kentucky apartment during a botched drug raid in March, and the three cops behind the raid be arrested and charged in her death.

On Wednesday Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron indicted former-Detective Brett Hankison on three first-degree wanton endangerment charges, accusing him of blindly firing shots that went through Taylor’s home and the walls of her neighbor’s apartment – but there were no charges in her death and the other two officers were not charged at all.   

NEW YORK CITY   

The Big Apple chaos erupted after protesters, who had gathered on the sidewalk on the corner of West 10th and Hudson by the popular Cowgirl restaurant, started to mingle in between diners sat outside enjoying their meals.

The protesters had come from the 6th precinct after police had broken up a rally at nearby Washington Square Park. Protesters ignored one warning to disperse and were followed by cops on bicycles. 

‘Please be advised that pedestrians are not permitted to walk in the street or roadway,’ a message on an intercom played at the intersection.

Moments after the warning, the cops then rushed at them around 9pm – sending diners and demonstrators flying as tables and chairs were upended.

‘They’re terrorizing joy. We didn’t come here to do anything but to have fun,’ protester Shanee Grant said.

‘The police just came and stormed in and took our belongings … They swarmed us. We were peacefully assembled. There was nothing, no violence,’ one organizer said.

Police could be seen taking a number of people into custody.   

The arrests were for disorderly conduct according to the NYPD who did not give specific details about what actions were taken by those arrested.

A police spokesperson confirmed ‘multiple’ arrests while a protester at the scene said that number was likely in the ‘dozens’ according to NBC4.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

In Seattle, fires were lit on Capitol Hill after protests turned violent on the city’s streets for a fourth night.

Seven people were arrested after protesters smashed windows and set fires.

The group of around 100 protesters began marching on Yesler Way around 5pm. 

The Seattle Police Department said just before 7pm on Saturday event that ‘protesters have wound their way through the city causing damage along the way.’ 

Protesters once again converged on Capitol Hill, where the area was rocked by consistent demonstrations for weeks over the summer. 

As police moved in on protesters on Capitol Hill they found multiple trash cans and dumpsters had been moved into the street and set ablaze along with other garbage and debris.

Bikes and scooters available for rent were also set on fire.

The scene was similar to what happened on Thursday and Wednesday night when protesters ran through the streets setting fires.

Those demonstrations were declared a riot by police after explosives were thrown, property was damaged and multiple officers were hurt. 

The demonstrations have been in the area of the East Precinct which has been fortified with concrete barricades and fences since police cleared out the CHOP, or Capitol Hill Protest Zone, earlier this summer.

Police said firefighters put out the fires that were set and the area remained closed to traffic Saturday evening. 

LOUSIVILLE, KENTUCKY

A diverse crowd of hundreds marched in Louisville’s streets chanting ‘Black Lives Matter’ on Saturday night.

People in the crowd also chanted ‘No justice, no peace’ as cars honked along a busy downtown artery in this Kentucky city that has seen more than 120 days of demonstrations over the death of the 26-year-old Black woman in a police raid gone wrong.

A few police cars followed behind, with officers telling protesters to stay on the sidewalk and out of the street before the march ended. Many briefly ended up back at a downtown square that has been a focal point of protests.

But as a 9pm curfew time approached, a police loudspeaker announced that anyone who remained in the park would be arrested for a curfew violation. The square emptied out as people departed, many dispersing though one group headed to a nearby church where protesters had found refuge on previous nights.

As a crowd gathered outside the First Unitarian Church late Saturday, fires were set in a street nearby after 11pm.

 Police said fireworks burned a car, and windows had been broken at Spalding University buildings close by. Police tweeted that arrests would be made, but specific numbers weren’t immediately released.

Some demonstrators were seen with makeshift shields made of plywood. Others took shelter inside the church, which closed its doors around midnight.

A previous protest on Friday night was peaceful though police arrested 22 people for curfew violations. A police spokesman said some also were charged with failure to disperse.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer had urged continued peaceful protests in an appearance at a news conference Saturday evening.

‘I’m mindful that many in our community are hurting and angry about the decisions announced this week,’ Fischer said. The mayor said he supports protesters’ First Amendment rights to protest though ‘we just ask you to do that peacefully please.’

Taylor was shot multiple times March 13 after her boyfriend fired at officers who had entered her home during a narcotics raid by white officers, authorities said. Taylor’s boyfriend said he didn’t know who was coming in and fired in self-defense, wounding one officer.

On Wednesday, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced a grand jury indicted one officer on wanton endangerment charges, saying he fired gunshots into a neighboring home during the raid that didn’t strike anyone. That officer has been fired.

Cameron said the other officers were not charged with Taylor’s killing because they acted to protect themselves.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, visited a downtown park on Friday with family and her lawyers, and called on Kentucky officials to release all body camera footage, police files and the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings. Palmer said in a statement read by a family member that she felt the criminal justice system had failed her. Palmer marched at the head of Friday’s protest march.

The grand jury’s ruling weighed heavily on protesters like Amber Brown. A central figure in the downtown demonstrations, Brown said she was angry.

‘It feels like we went backward,’ she said Friday night. ‘I think people are still in shock and we´re not sure how to move forward.’

Brown criticized the police crackdown in the downtown area that has been in effect since early in the week.

‘People are afraid to exercise their First Amendment right,’ she said. ‘Since when does protest have a curfew? Since when does freedom and civil rights have a curfew?’

DENVER, COLORADO

Several different groups had planned separate marches and rallies in Denver on Saturday. The March 4 Black Women Denver organized a Silence in Solidarity march at 10am and marched to the the State Capitol.

Other rallies and protests took place throughout the day including the one by The Party for Socialism and Liberation.

The city also saw a Drop The Charge march and rally which was in direct response to several activists being arrested and charged in connection to protests earlier this summer. 

‘We are not afraid! We have the power of the people and justice on our side! Stand up, fight back! Drop the charges now!’ they chanted.

Denver police detained a man on a weapons violation during the protest according to CBS Denver.

 YORBA LINDA, CALIFORNIA

Two people were struck by a car and injured on Saturday during a Southern California demonstration involving members of Black Lives Matter and counter-protesters.

The incident occurred in the city of Yorba Linda, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The injured people were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the driver of the car was detained, said Carrie Braun, spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The incident occurred as members of Black Lives Matter demonstrated against police brutality and systemic racism.

Counter-protesters crossed six-lane Imperial Highway and confronted the BLM protesters, authorities said. The protesters also confronted each other in the parking lot of the Yorba Linda public library, Braun said.

A white sedan came went through the crowd in the parking lot or the exit of the parking lot at the public library, injuring two people, Braun said. People chased the car as it tried to drive away, and it was eventually stopped and was surrounded by police, she said. 

It was not known how fast the car was going, however the back windshield had been broken out, and it had a flagpole sticking out of it. The front windshield was also smashed. The female driver of the car was detained, Braun said.

Braun said there were 300 people total and at some point it was declared an unlawful assembly and dispersal orders were given.

On Thursday night, a protester was struck by a pickup truck during a march in Hollywood and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Los Angeles police said Friday the preliminary investigation found that the driver was attempting to maneuver through the crowd when protesters began beating the vehicle with sticks and attempted to open the door.

The driver was attempting to drive away from the situation when he struck the protester. The driver stopped several blocks away and cooperated with officers. He was released pending the outcome of the investigation.

PORTLAND, OREGON  

Portland police Saturday night arrested anti-police brutality protesters who had gathered downtown.

Shortly after 9pm video on social media showed the officers tackling protesters and making arrests as the crowd of several hundred people yelled at them. Police told protesters to move back and get out of the street as they made the arrests.

At one stage, protesters burned the Stars & Stripes in the middle of the street. 

Protesters chanted: ‘No good cops in a racist system!’

At the other end of the political spectrum, around one thousand supporters of the right-wing Proud Boys group, some armed, rallied in Portland, on Saturday in a largely peaceful event that drew far fewer followers than organizers forecast and state authorities had feared.

The rally in a north Portland park ended after a few hours of speeches and chants, many against anti-fascists and Black Lives Matter groups which held a nearby counter-protest.

‘You’re here for the right reasons, the people down the street are against America,’ said an unnamed speaker in a video posted on the Parler page of the self-declared ‘Western chauvinist’ Proud Boys.

The Proud Boys forecast a crowd of at least 10,000 when they asked for a permit to hold the demonstration, a request that was denied by the city.

State Governor Kate Brown declared a weekend state of emergency for Oregon’s biggest city, saying ‘white supremacist groups’ were traveling from out of state to attend the rally called by the Proud Boys to ‘end domestic terrorism’ in Portland.

The Democratic-run city has seen four months of near-daily demonstrations against police violence and racism, many ending in violence.

Proud Boys leaders said the group’s presence pushed Brown to declare an emergency and create a state and local police task force to keep the peace in a city President Donald Trump has called an ‘anarchist jurisdiction.’

‘It’s crazy that it takes us to come here to solve things,’ Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio said in video on the group’s Parler page.

Democratic presidential hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden has said Trump’s rhetoric is stoking political violence.

As the Proud Boys rally broke up, Portland Police stopped one vehicle and confiscated firearms, paintball guns, baseball bats and shields.

The city remained on edge into the night given fears of clashes.

Local and state leaders said in a letter to the community that Proud Boys supporters had openly discussed military-style tactical operations and planned to cause chaos and violence while claiming to be acting in support of police.

Police said they were investigating an assault of one person documenting the Proud Boys rally and a total of three people were arrested there and at the counter-protest that also drew around 1,000 people.

The men-only Proud Boys group describes itself as a fraternal organization that ‘venerates the housewife’ and is ‘anti-political correctness.’

Civil rights group The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies the Proud Boys as a hate group, citing its members’ anti-Muslim and misogynist rhetoric.