a lot of smoke coming out of a dumpster a block from richmond police headquarters.
someone just smashed out a window on the police station to loud cheers. helicopter low overhead.
cops have kept their distance while we marched through the city for two hours. now we’re at their house & they’re coming in close.
some cops in riot gear
line of protesters facing off agains a line of riot cops in the intersection of jefferson and west grace outside the police station
they don’t even look human 
i can hear glass breaking behind me, in the direction of the police station. some in the crowd are calling for a moment of silence.
the line of protesters is moving closer to the cops. fists raised. glass still breaking behind us.
a cop car is on fire
that cop car is burning hot and fast right outside richmond police headquarters
gas deployed.
the horn on the burning cop car is blaring, helicopter hovering low
small explosions from inside the burning cop car
the tree looks like it might catch.
more explosions from the burning car. the tree is on fire now.
the gas and the fire have broken up the crowd. riot cops threatening gas again
oh it’s spicy out here. whatever they sprayed is sticking to my sweat and burning my skin.
i think some of those explosions in the car were cans of CS/pepper spray. the smoke is spicy.
loud explosion. i’m a block away now. not sure if flashbang or the car popping off again. probably the car.
crowd that is between me and the station running now
crowd is parting to allow people parked on this street to move their cars
the drivers are honking and waving and people are allowing them to pass through the crowd
block party outside the police station
word from the front of the crowd is the fire department has put out the burning cop car
the crowd is chanting marcus david peters’ name now. he was a young black man murdered by richmond police in 2018. i’ve seen some #helpnotdeath shirts in the crowd from the protests after his murder.
like the cop car, we burned bright and fast. things have calmed down and most of the crowd has broken off into smaller groups.
still a decent sized crowd facing off with riot cops by the police station. at a stalemate now. just standing
we’re just standing here in the intersection. police line and protest line maybe 6 yards apart. just standing. some of the riot cops have their fingers on the trigger of their little gas containers.
a white woman is standing way too close to the police line and acting up. other protesters are trying to get her to back up and stop instigating. one woman encouraged the rest of us to just move away from her, “let her get maced by herself.”
the general consensus is this woman is trying to andy ngo herself.
she wants to hang out with cops so bad, she got what she wanted. cops just escorted her away behind the police line. unclear if she was arrested or just gently removed.
tags all over richmond tonight
a triumphant crowd is standing in the intersection of broad & belvidere chanting george floyd’s name
the whole intersection is chanting “fuck the police”
someone is dancing on top of a bus. not a riot cop in sight 🥰
full blown dance party on top of the bus
don’t ever let anybody tell you this was an unruly mob. anarchists on bicycles are directing traffic so the crowd can hang out in the intersection but cars can still get where they need to go.
ok a little unruly. they’re tipping over the bus.
the bus would not be tipped. it was only rocked.
cops moving in. crowd moving back.
loud rapid fire sound. not like a gun, something not quite as loud or deep but the same cadence.
cops throwing smoke grenades
rude
cops aggressively clearing the intersection. throwing smoke grenades directly at people at pretty close range.
someone is shooting off fireworks
the bus is on fire now
cops have someone on the ground
pepper spray deployed heavily
a couple people dragged off by whole groups of cops. looked hurt. bus is really burning now.
cops shouting “back up, the bus is gonna blow” and we’re trying to treat people they maced directly in the fucking face
the bus really does look like it’s gonna blow
i’ve never seen anything burn this loud or this hot. i’m a block away and it’s LOUD. roaring & hissing.
fire department spraying the bus now
at least the riot cops stopped spraying us so we could watch the bus burn. everyone’s just standing transfixed.
someone just threw what looks like a real, whole dead fish in the direction of a cop but it landed about five feet shy of him. he was gracious enough not to respond to this insult with chemical weapons.
that explains the loud hissing geyser of flame shooting out of the top of the bus
i wasn’t kidding about the dead fish
fire is dying down & something else has the cops’ attention. they’ve moved their line back closer to the burnt out bus.
report over the police radio (audible on their shoulders) of a small armed group nearby. unclear what kind.
this cop just said there is a group of 100 armed men chasing the other contingent of our protest. he says he does not know who they are. i don’t know anything else.
big crowd by the burning bus is eerily quiet. we don’t know what’s happening.
overheard on the cop radio there’s been a shooting at a 7-11. unclear if true or related.
if anyone in richmond is near the police station or has seen this alleged militia please reach out
NOT a shooting at 7-11. that’s some comfort i guess. there’s still the matter of the militia.
firecrackers and shit are fun at a protest sometimes but i swear to god this is not the time. some joker keeps letting one pop every now and then. we do not need to spook these cops right now.
not sure who these guys are, where they are, what they want, or how many of them there are.
police radio says there is a fire at the village cafe
the bus is still a little bit on fire but the fire department has pulled out
at broad and monroe now. there’s maybe a dozen militia types here. i’m assuming the earlier reports of bigger numbers were just... really wrong.
big white guy with a rifle is lecturing a group of black people about the constitution.
he’s very mad about red flag laws. which is... a red flag for me.
another cop car is getting absolutely destroyed. you love to see it.
a guy just did a backflip off the hood of the cop car while someone else smashed the windows with a skateboard
i think the cop car is on fire now
fire department better get this one quick. somebody tossed a discarded mattress from a dumpster on it.
honestly i had no idea cars burned so easy
protesters are banging on the doors of the homes near the fire to let them know
huge bang from about a block away. not sure if cops or fire or what.
burning the cop car at the police station was cool. burning the cop car in the alley behind these people’s homes was not.
it’s 2am. a lot of the people in those houses are probably asleep. people are kicking doors & trying to get them all to evacuate.
i’m a block away but i just heard a sort of soft whooshing bang and saw a flash of light
gunfire
came from the direction of broad and monroe. don’t know who fired.
we ran. i just heard more pops.
more shots.
they came in a burst at first. just ones and twos now.
it stopped for a minute. we moved back to where they came from to see if people needed help. ran into a guy who said he saw someone fire a bunch of shots into the air but that doesn’t account for the follow up shots.
more shots. one very loud bang that sounded like crowd a crowd control measure
nothing confirmed. i don’t know who shot or why.
a woman just came out of her house to offer snacks to people regrouping after running from gunfire. bless her ❤️❤️
i’m safe and sitting on a street corner.
flashbangs
about two blocks from my current position. unsure of conditions on the scene, just hearing the bangs.
a third cop car in flames, apparently. i haven’t seen this one - still sitting on a street corner a few blocks away.
huh actually the address of that third cop car fire is far enough away that that can’t be the banging sounds i’m hearing. not sure what’s going on here on west grace.
riot cops holding a line against... nothing? near the burnt out bus at broad and belvidere
the bus is still lightly smoldering
cops throwing smoke grenades at individual people just standing around, very rude
ah fuck that’s tear gas
oh wow that burns all the way down huh
would really rather be pepper sprayed tbh. tear gas gets zero stars. would not recommend.
like 20 cop cars passing abner clay park with sirens on
seems like shit is still going down in pockets all over richmond but it’s 3am and i’ve been pepper sprayed and tear gassed and i’m out of snacks so i’m gonna go home now. stay powerful, everyone.
also now that i’m safe and away from the scene just as a disclaimer: this whole thread is in the moment, on the ground observations. i can’t confirm additional details about situations i didn’t see from any angle other than my own.
