Salt Lake City police officials and Mayor Erin Mendenhall met Tuesday afternoon to talk about law enforcement policies with community leaders and listen to any concerns.
Reporters were permitted into the meeting room as the session was winding down. Chief Mike Brown asked the gathered group to reassure the community that the Salt Lake City Police Department is seeking to learn and grow.
"And we have confidence that the things that you saw happen in Minneapolis are not going to happen here," he said. "Because, right now, there's a lot of fear."
Speaking to the media after the meeting, state Rep. Sandra Hollins, the state’s only black lawmaker, said she learned during the session that Salt Lake City police are not allowed to kneel on a person’s neck as a form of restraint — the way a Minneapolis officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd before his death.
While she appreciated Tuesday's dialogue, the rash of protests in recent days points to the feeling of voicelessness that many experience, she said, referencing the African proverb that a "child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth."
“I think that’s what’s going on. I think our youth are not feeling that they are being heard,” Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, said. “And this is a part of the consequence of them not being heard.”
Salt Lake City is one of dozens of U.S. cities where multi-day protests have taken place in reaction to the death of Floyd, a black man killed by police in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. Floyd was handcuffed when now-former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. He died later that night at the hospital. Chauvin has been charged with murder.
Protesters in Salt Lake City took to the streets for the first time Saturday morning. As they day wore on at least 1,000 came out to the Utah State Capitol and the area around police headquarters and Library Square.
By the end of the day, one police cruiser was flipped and set ablaze, another car — belonging to a man who threatened protests with a bow and arrow — was also overturned and set on fire. Officers arrested 46 people, and 21 officers were treated for injuries, mostly heat-related.
Kamaal Ahmad, Weber State University football coach, left Tuesday’s listening session appreciative of the open communication with Salt Lake City leaders. Over the weekend, Ahmad had posted a widely-shared video on social media expressing dismay at the violence that had erupted, and he reiterated those sentiments to reporters Tuesday.
“I’ve been to legitimate protests. That wasn’t one,” he said. “That was a bunch of agitators that wanted to cause harm.”
Ahmad said he’s helping organize a peaceful demonstration Saturday in downtown Salt Lake City.
In response to Saturday’s violence, Mendenhall enacted a citywide 8 p.m. curfew that ended Monday morning. Then on Monday, she announced a weeklong curfew that begins each night at 8 p.m, and ends at 6 a.m. Protesters gathered Monday despite that and stayed out until about 10 p.m., when a demonstrator negotiated with police to let the remaining crowd leave peacefully.
Monday’s protest stayed mostly peaceful, but officials reported someone had shattered the window of an armored vehicle. Court records show 18 protesters were arrested and booked into Salt Lake County jail, including one who’d been carrying a loaded handgun.
Police also made two other protest-related arrests: A man who’d allegedly been making threats to kill police and was found apparently on his way to the protest with four guns, and a man who lives near the protest site who fired an assault rifle-style gun in the air during the demonstration.
Salt Lake City police reported they’d made 16 total arrests, mostly for failure to disperse. The Utah Highway Patrol arrested two people.
Demonstrators are expected to gather again near City Hall on Tuesday evening.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/06/02/wake-protests-salt-lake/
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