Protesters, police and the National Guard showed up for yet another day of rallying against racial inequality and police brutality.
Wednesday evening marked the fourth protest in the capital city in five days. It also followed Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s early lifting of a controversial weeklong curfew that city residents called heavy-handed and a violation of First Amendment rights.
It has been a week and a half since George Floyd’s Memorial Day death, which happened after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on the black man’s neck for nearly nine minutes. Bystanders recorded video of Floyd saying he couldn’t breathe, spurring protests around the nation. Some turned violent, including a demonstration in Salt Lake City on Saturday.
All four officers involved in Floyd’s death have been charged.
Group is now marching, chanting "Peaceful protest!" And SLCPD officers are marching with them. pic.twitter.com/oOPiJ5zecD
— Paighten🆒Harkins (@PaightenHarkins) June 3, 2020
Wednesday’s downtown protest started with a few hundred people marching from Washington Park and chanting “peaceful protest” and “this is what democracy looks like.”
Police walked with them. Some addressed the crowd.
“We’re sad about the loss of George Floyd,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said. “We denounce those actions of those officers. We stand for racial equality.”
Not all protesters were receptive to the chief’s words, with shouts cutting off his speech. “What is your police department going to do?” one person yelled.
SLCPD Chief Brown just tried to speak to the crowd, saying he was disgusted by what happened to Floyd in Minneapolis. Some people pretty upset with officers speaking. pic.twitter.com/jci7sUEd0c
— Paighten🆒Harkins (@PaightenHarkins) June 3, 2020
Still, most of the crowd joined Brown in kneeling.
This story will be updated.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/06/03/protesters-gathering-salt/
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