Washington — Thousands marched and protested against police brutality in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, keeping the May 25 death of George Floyd on the White House’s collective mind by demanding the city defund its police force.
Just one person was arrested, according to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser designed a city block near the executive mansion as “Black Lives Matter Plaza”; protesters added the words “=Defund the police” in bright yellow paint.
Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, is charged with killing Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, during an arrest in Minneapolis.
Rioting there began less than a day later and quickly spread to other American cities. Clashes between police and protesters escalated quickly in Washington.
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Bowser’s order included a paint job on the pavement large enough to be seen from orbiting satellites, according to Planet Labs, a private imaging company.
“We’ve walked this path before, and will continue marching on, hand in hand, elevating our voices, until justice and peace prevail,” Bowser said.
For members of Black Lives Matter DMV—the letters refer to D.C., Maryland and Virginia, not the motor vehicles bureau—her gestures were not enough.
The group claimed responsibility for adding the anti-police message to the road, which is technically still called 16th Street.
Saturday’s almost univerally nonviolent protests included a prayer service led by a man at a piano.
“When I see the civil rights movement, all those people were people of God,” Walcott told Zenger News. “As you can see behind me, people are being touched and transformed by the Holy Spirit.”“God, I see people who walk as activists in love and justice and mercy and humanity,” recent Princeton University graduate Mikal Walcott prayed aloud. “God, would you set free people so that they may set free others?”
Behind him, two women who attended his service embraced and cried.
Others shoiuted louder and with less optimism.
Members of RefuseFascism, a project of the Revolutionary Communist Party USA, shouted “Fuck Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!”
Source: VIDEO: Activists Demand D.C. ‘Defund’ Police Amid Peaceful Protests
