After a spate of police shootings over the past week, Phoenix city leaders urged calm and called for any protesting to be put off to allow for a cooling-off period. But several hundred protestors defied those concerns and marched through the city for three hours Friday night.
KJZZ’s Jimmy Jenkins was there and said the mood was calm for most of the night.
Protestors were gathered singing in front of city hall at the beginning of the night when a few counter protestors showed up and basically heckled the Black Lives Matter supporters, but they were quickly drowned out.
Dallas Diaz was passing out candles to marchers with her brother. She said contrary to what the city leaders were asking for, it was important to get out and be heard right after the events.
“It’s important to show that no matter what happens, we’re not going to be silenced,” Diaz said.
The protestors then marched through the city, stopping at various intersections to shout slogans, but all the while chaperoned by the police. It was very contained. Police were always on the perimeter. They’d closed down an agreed upon route and sealed off all side streets and really gave the march room to breathe.
From calm to confrontation
The Phoenix police say they had an agreement between Chief Joe Yahner and community leader Jarrett Maupin the march would stick to a pre-approved route, but as the protest headed north on 7th Street, the marchers decided to attempt to take the interstate and shut down the I-10.
"Under the circumstances, the demonstration was determined to be unsafe to continue on," said Sgt. Vincent Lewis from the Phoenix Police Department late Friday night. "That's when the officers from the Phoenix Police Department formed a line."
Maupin said it was never their intention to actually go on the freeway, but only to imply a threat of shutting down the I-10, which did, in fact, happen . To prevent this, the police made a stand at 7th Street and Fillmore Street. That’s when tear gas and pepper spray was used on some protestors. It all added up to a small skirmish. There were three arrests and minor injuries and most of the crowd dispersed.
The Phoenix Police have a community response team to deal with these kinds of situations. They coordinated with protest leaders before and during the march to try and bridge relationships between the police and the community. Prentice Moore,with 100 Black Men of Phoenix, said there needs to be more education and communication between the groups.
“Let’s be able to sit down at the table and have communication and work on ways together to really have a positive impact on the relation between law enforcement and the community," Moore said.
