Our city had already had a peaceful protest earlier that afternoon with a message of love and justice and it was important that this protest stayed safe and civil.
/thread/ #GeorgeFloyd
The evening group was also much younger. I’d put the average age at about 24.
As a result, the leaders placed experienced activists at the front of the march, in the middle, and in the rear. And they kept it moving, not letting too much heat build in any one spot.
There were officers in regular uniform walking among the crowd, answering questions and chatting.
There were also many officers on bicycles.
But most of the presence was blocking certain streets to keep the march contained uptown.
At one point someone threw a water bottle at the police and everyone turned around and yelled at him.
There were some tense moments but after about 30 minutes the march moved on.
It wasn’t a coherent group anymore. There were less than 200 people. It had splintered and there wasn’t any organization.
I thought it was basically over so I started to head back to my car.
Then I saw the tear gas.
I was two blocks away so I couldn’t tell what, if anything, precipitated its use (although I later read a CMPD statement that bottles and rocks were being thrown).
Officers lined up shoulder-to-shoulder and walked block by block, toward the protesters, who similarly lined up shoulder-to-shoulder and waited for the police to move toward them.
I’m not aware of any injuries. As far as property damage, I heard a few reports of a few broken windows, but nothing extensive.
What I saw was much more complex, much more human.
What I learned last night is that the tenor of these events can change on a dime. But you can feel it when it happens.
Although many of them felt genuine anger, they understood what it meant to channel it productively and what type of conduct would undercut their message.
- Sen. Jeff Jackson