I want to be crystal clear here... the Dayton police got violent first. As some protesters tried to outflank the line of bike cops, this officer, armed with a paintball gun, began firing on people. 
The police then donned gas masks and began threatening to disperse the crowd violently. I saw water splashed from a water bottle above the frontline before the first wide spread use of pepper spray. The only injured cop I saw was suffering from the effects of their own spray.
After a few minutes, a Dayton police cruiser drove into the back of the crowd and began forcing its way towards the line. The driver nearly hit several marchers, and several water bottles were thrown at the car, not at the officers in the line.
This was a very dangerous escalation by the police, especially given the presence of children, old folks, etc. Again, I have a lot of pics and videos of all this, but again, I dont want the police using them to harass protesters.
By this time, Kettering police and Montgomery county sheriff deputies were arriving and thickening the line. The Dayton MRAP armored car arrived. Also apparently the hostage negotiating team, who are driving a Ford van from Hill Street Blues, apparently.
Over the next few minutes, the police used pepper spray several more times (still with no violence from the crowd), and fired paintballs indiscriminately. I saw several people injured. Street medics were on hand to help. Again, I have pics, not posting.
Workers from the restaurants also helped, bringing milk, water, and baking soda to people who had been pepper sprayed. The solidarity and consideration of the protesters and bystanders was terrific.
When the police had formed a proper shield wall of officers in riot gear, they actually stopped most of the violence. They began playing a recording ordering the crowd to disperse and threatening “serious injury” from “less than lethal force” if people disobeyed.
Gradually the shield wall moved up the street, and the protesters fell back. At this point most people got bored and started wandering off. By the time the police got to the intersection of Wayne and Hugo, most of the protesters had left.
Again, I want to emphasize, the #Dayton protests today were peaceful, except for the @DaytonPolice who escalated and then attacked the crowd to prevent them from reaching US 35. THe protesters themselves were entirely peaceful.
They yelled and cursed the cops, and some water bottles were thrown when the police got down right dangerous, but this was a peaceful protest. It was all local people, very much showing the #daytonstrong spirit.
It is very disappointing that the Dayton police dept did not rise to the occasion. Ultimately the police decided that it was better to hurt people than allow a protest to close down a highway for a few minutes. That is the calculus here. People matter less than traffic.
The #GeorgeFloydMurder brought a lot of angry people into the streets, and the Dayton police did their part to show why people should be angry. State violence was used to deny people their first amendment rights. That is what happened here today.
This thread got broken in half. Check out both halves for the full story.
Here is the first half:
