police brutality against people protesting police brutality is radicalizing people against the police. tonight’s march in richmond is specifically a response to the cops running people over last night.
the person addressing the crowd in monroe park right now was hit by the cop car last night. he says he used think perhaps reform was possible... he doesn’t anymore.
at lee circle last night, he saw the car approach the crowd and he ran toward it, thinking it was another KKK attack. “i didn’t know it was a police vehicle until i put my hand on it. and he revved the engine.”
“if one person is in chains, the entire community is in chains,” he says. he says he’s no longer an ally - he’s an accomplice.
“the police will use whatever means possible to kill in order to uphold white supremacy.”
“the police will use whatever means possible to kill in order to uphold white supremacy.”
goad has all the best updates - i’m just tagging along
CW for the video, but here’s what happened here last night
“abolition not reform!” calls the next speaker. “it’s been too many hundreds of years of the same bullshit.”
“property has always been seen as more important than our black lives in this fucking country,” he says, saying people marching for black lives have been branded terrorists when actual terrorism in this country is almost entirely white supremacists and literal nazis.
“we need something new. we need to assert our fucking humanity,” he says. cops kill people & we’re supposed to accept possibly, maybe sometimes firing them? placing them on administrative leave?
“there is no negotiating. there is no reconciling,” with people who hold a statue in higher regard than human life. “there is no common ground.”
we are getting ready to march
“we don’t really know what we’re going to be met with. we didn’t expect to be run over last night. we didn’t expect to be gassed before curfew [last week],” says an organizer, urging people to stay with a buddy on the march & look out for each other.
“we don’t really know what we’re going to be met with. we didn’t expect to be run over last night. we didn’t expect to be gassed before curfew [last week],” says an organizer, urging people to stay with a buddy on the march & look out for each other.
and we’re off, starting with a chant of “cops, pigs, murderers”
the streets are full of overlapping chants of “out of your house, into the streets” and “no justice, no peace”
the street outside the police station is fortified with dump trucks and riot cops. 
the march is filling the intersection by the dump truck fortifications now, chanting “quit your job”
and of course a perennial favorite, “i don’t see no riot here, why are you in riot gear?” it’s like cops are prepared to start a riot or something.
i think he might be considering it, tbh
the march appears to be taking broad street now. a fleet of bike marshals like i’ve never seen is holding intersections & keeping marchers safe. the real motherfuckin’ troops.
same energy
we’ve circled back around and are holding the intersection on the other side of the police station, also blocked off by dump trucks and riot cops
i love this song
whose fucking MRAP is that in front of the police station
riot cops just gave a dispersal order that i only heard because i’m practically face to face - this crowd absolutely did not hear the warning that we’ll be gassed shortly
we have very quickly arrived at a place where i’m having casual chats with strangers about exactly what we think these cops are prepared to shoot at us.
riot cops just grabbed an organizer with a bullhorn and aggressively sprayed them
heavily spraying the crowd indiscriminately now
crowd moving back, medics attending people who got sprayed. i didn’t get hit.
the truck has been injured
goad got video of the arrest earlier
chants of “let her go,” they must’ve grabbed another person. someone is asking why the person is being detained.
several riot cops advanced on a man who slapped the back of a cop car with his bare hands. the crowd moved in around him & the cops stopped, holding the line closer to us now.
song of the summer, imo
the inestimable, indomitable @ZyahnaB
the crowd is now chanting “we won’t leave without her,” re: the march organizer they grabbed earlier
this has a bad vibe
for reference, the parking garage is attached to the police station. we know there are more cops, including state police, staged inside. the lights going out in there feels... ominous.
an organizer has called for white people to hold the riot line.
i’m standing here next to what i swear to god is my doppelgänger. same height, same outfit, same shaved blond heads.
i’m standing here next to what i swear to god is my doppelgänger. same height, same outfit, same shaved blond heads.
helicopter is here now, shining the spotlight on us
bad time to realize i have to pee, huh?
chanting “bring her out” now, demanding release of the organizer they took
it’s oddly comforting to have our own bike line up here right against the cops
it’s oddly comforting to have our own bike line up here right against the cops
cops shoved a guy three or four down from me and then the spray started. crowd moving back again. medics treating people. i’m good.
folks who didn’t get hit are right back on the riot line
it isn’t enough to spray chemicals in our eyes? wtf is this for dude
too bad they aren’t wearing their name tags and their gas masks and helmets completely obscure their faces so there’s no way we’ll ever know who the cop is who just completely unprovoked hit someone with his riot shield 🤷♀️
true & correct
ok i have peed & pet a pug. i’m ready to go all night.
the cops seem restless. the ones who aren’t holding the front line are milling around a lot. one of them has walked up to several of the front line guys telling them... something?
somebody nearby opened a soda bottle and i flinched - the hiss of the carbonation sounded like the start of a stream of pepper spray 😬
we’re just holding the parking lot across from the police station.
we’re just holding the parking lot across from the police station.
if this is true - if they are willfully refusing to process an arrestee based on the behavior of the crowd, that is a fucking problem.
if they really are using the arrested organizer’s safety to negotiate with the crowd, that’s just fucking hostage taking.
this protest is explicitly, specifically a response to this police department *hitting protesters with a police vehicle* yesterday. they’ve responded by taking a black woman hostage and pepper spraying people.
i guess they’ve had plenty of practice lately - this is the first riot line i’ve ever held where every cop had his shield right side up. good job, piggies.
not sure what kind of weapon he’s shouldering here but whatever it is surely isn’t meant to be fired at 20 feet
he looks ready
a young person is right on the riot line explaining to this cop what chemical weapons do to people’s bodies
a bunch of state police in riot gear just arrived to reinforce the police line. they look ready to start shit. people have been speculating that they’ll do something at midnight (2 min away)
tons more riot cops coming out now
crowd chanting hands up, don’t shoot as more cops who look ready to shoot pour out of the police station
to the white guy next to me trying to have a heart to heart with a riot cop & yelling at a black woman who asked him to stop: please go home. you’re not here for the right reasons and you’re not helping.
i made eye contact with the boulder of a cop i’m face to face with. i saw a flicker of what looked like guilt that he knows he’s about to hurt me. that’s why little white girls like me belong on the riot line. they’ll still do it, but maybe they’ll feel bad for a second.
some of the cops right in front of the station are wearing green, not blue. i’m not sure if national guard is here but these guys are dressed for war.
my knees are shaking but i hear @ZyahnaB on the megaphone & i know why we’re here
someone is coming down the line telling protesters that the organizer who was arrested has been taken to the city jail & that we’ll hold this ground here in protest of the way she’s being treated.
never log off, never surrender
how have i never noticed this historical marker for the site of confederate general j.e.b. stuart’s death before
oh a lady riot cop just joined the line. neoliberals rejoice: we could get brutalized by a female cop tonight!
i kinda want to eat my snack but it’s probably unwise to take my mask off 18 inches from a can of pepper spray this twitchy cop has in his hand huh
they’ve got the flood lights in our eyes now
oh now that they have the lights on, you can tell the MRAP is a bright painters tape blue. i thought it was black. that’s nice, i guess.
these guys seem very prepared
the staties are genuinely struggling with their riot gear. i think i’ve spent more time on a riot line than some of these dummies.
she is much more confident than i am that one of her colleagues isn’t gonna gas us
what are you fucking wearing, man
people on the riot line are listing local businesses that are hiring, suggesting other jobs these cops might seek out.
and the helicopter is back!
this cop is seriously invading my personal space. i haven’t moved and now his shield is about eight inches from my forehead.
sir please, there’s a pandemic on. gimme some space.
a young woman on the riot line has her eyes closed and her hands clasped in prayer. an organizer leads us all in chants of “what do we want? justice. when do we want it? now” as the helicopter circles low overhead.
i’m hearing that the organizer they abducted earlier has been booked into richmond city jail and may have been charged with assaulting an officer. i haven’t confirmed this myself.
cops started pushing people then doused them in pepper spray
it was about 20 feet down from me but the wind is SPICY
someone just shot off some fireworks in the alley. part of the crowd started running because it sounded like gunfire. spooked the cops pretty bad too.
they’ve pushed us all the way back to the parking lot now - we had been in the center of the road
somebody threw a traffic cone & the crowd got another spicy baptism
the crowd has gotten pretty thin now but they keep bringing out more riot cops. probably half the crowd is either tending to someone who got sprayed or being tended to.
cops fired some kind of crowd control munition at the crowd at close range - not sure what it was because i had literally just walked away to see what’s on fire a block away
i see sparks and arcs of smoke. some arcs look like tear gas or smoke grenades being lobbed back at the cops. hope nobody burned their hands 🙏
oh there’s a dumpster fire over here!
oh that’s burning HOT!
having checked out the dumpster fire, we’re heading back over to what looks sounds and smells like a fucking war zone in front of the precinct
the crowd is very thin now. people have moved off to be treated for gas exposure. no word about any injuries from whatever got fired into the crowd.
what is this? it’s still very hot
i can barely hear it over the sound of the helicopter, but i can hear the air hissing out of this dump truck’s tires
the crowd has almost entirely dispersed and it’s starting to rain. good night, pigs.
while we were waiting for his sandwich at wawa, @GoadGatsby and i both noted that it was richmond police who bathed people in pepper spray. the staties didn’t even have their gas masks on.
i don’t know who shot the tear gas - i was checking out the dumpster fire when there happened.
this was just a few seconds after i left the parking lot. what “crowd” are they trying to disperse? there was barely anyone there and we were all just kinda standing around. riot cops start riots.
