Lexington, Louisville protests call for end to police violence; National Guard deployed in Louisville
Demonstrators gathered in downtown Lexington and downtown Louisville Friday night and again Saturday in solidarity with protesters around the country who are calling for an end to police violence.
In Lexington, protesters marched along several downtown streets Friday night, blocked some roads and walked among cars stopped in traffic. They called for an end to police brutality and had an 8-minute “die-in” near Lexington police headquarters. After several hours, the crowd dispersed.
In Louisville, looting and vandalism Friday night prompted Gov. Andy Beshear to deploy the National Guard there on Saturday in an effort to maintain peace on what was expected to be a third night of unrest, and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the city will impose a dawn-to-dusk curfew for Saturday and Sunday nights.
“This has gone way beyond peaceful protest,” Fischer said Saturday at a media briefing. He later said many of those involved were “anarchists” from outside the city, and he urged Louisville residents to stay home.
Fischer acknowledged that systemic change is needed.
“There are ways to channel the pain and the frustration and the energy of this moment into something positive, something that will create meaningful change,” he said later Saturday afternoon.
The protests come amid a nationwide outcry over the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, who both died at the hands of police. Both Floyd and Taylor were black and unarmed.
Hundreds in Louisville and in Lexington gathered and chanted about violence by police Friday night.
On Saturday afternoon, a smaller group of protesters had convened at Triangle Park in downtown Lexington. Another Lexington protest was planned for 8 p.m. Sunday on the courthouse lawn.
Protest organizers in Lexington Friday night asked attendees before the event to wear masks to the “socially distant, non-violent protest” that began in the courthouse plaza. The protesters marched along Main Street in Lexington and had an eight minute “die-in” in front of police headquarters, one minute for each time Taylor was shot.
Stephen Roberts, one of the Lexington protest organizers, said he was happy with the turnout Friday night.
“I needed to see my city show out for this. I’m ecstatic,” Roberts said. “We need the police to start taking accountability for their corruption. The system is not broken. It is made to bring us down.”
Precious Taylor, 34, was at the rally, holding her daughter Temple’s hand as they marched.
“What we’re doing now is we’re fighting for her,” Precious Taylor said. “Right now we’re limited to what we can be because of how we look.”
Precious Taylor grew up in Lexington but moved to Cincinnati a year ago.
“This is to teach them,” she said. “There’s only so much they’re taught in school, they’re not being taught what’s going on now.”
The protesters took several laps around downtown Lexington, shutting down roads, walking through lines of stopped cars. Some of the drivers honked or held up fists in support as the protesters chanted “hands up don’t shoot,” “black lives matter” and “no justice no peace.”
At some points, protesters yelled directly at Lexington police officers. The officers stood quietly and did not react.
In Louisville, the protesters chanted Breonna Taylor’s name as they moved through the streets. As the night went on, police used apparent tear gas on protesters gathering downtown.
Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, was at Friday night’s protest in Louisville and tweeted to Mayor Greg Fischer that she was tear gassed.
“I was just tear gassed by your police force,” Scott said in the tweet. “This was after one of your officers kept pushing me without ever asking me to move. This was after we were never asked to disperse. This was during a peaceful protest. LMPD met peace with violence. I’m disgusted.”
As the Louisville crowd spread out, windows were broken, vehicles were vandalized and some fires were set.
Speaking at a downtown news conference Saturday morning, a Louisville police spokeswoman said six officers were injured and there were six arrests Friday night.
Breonna Taylor died after being shot eight times by police who were serving a no-knock warrant at her home in connection with a drug investigation. The officers involved were not wearing uniforms and burst into Taylor’s apartment in the middle of the night, according court records.
Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at the officers as they entered, striking one of them in the leg, according to court records. Walker was at first charged with first-degree assault and attempted murder, but those charges were later dropped.
There were no drugs found in Taylor’s apartment, according to court records.
Taylor’s family has called for reform, and they have urged an end to the violence taking place during the Louisville protests.
Gov. Andy Beshear on Saturday said that “we cannot let Breonna’s legacy be marred by violence, and we can’t let our streets turn violent.”
“The death of Breonna Taylor is tragic, and it’s led to an outpouring of emotions of frustration, of fatigue, and of the belief by many Kentuckians that justice isn’t available to all of us in our state and in our society,” Beshear said in a video posted on Facebook. “While I can never pretend to understand the depths of those feelings, what I can do is pledge to listen and to do everything I can to help moving forward.”
He called the decision to bring in the National Guard “a big step, and a tough step.”
“It’s not one intended to silence any voice, because I want to hear,” he said. “But I want to make sure that at the end of the day, that we are all safe.”
Protest organizers in Lexington called for greater police accountability in Lexington.
They pointed to an incident at Fayette Mall in February 2019 involving Lexington police chaplain Donovan Stewart as an example of where they said change is needed. Stewart has been accused of repeatedly punching the teen while he was restrained on the floor, and the boy’s family has filed a federal lawsuit against the officer and the city of Lexington.
Stewart has not been disciplined.
“This is not justice, it is an injustice,” organizers said in a news release publicizing the Lexington protest.
Lexington police have said that in situations involving court proceedings, the court case must be resolved before a formal internal review begins.
Lexington police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said Friday that a case regarding the incident “has still not been fully adjudicated in court; therefore the review by the department’s Public Integrity Unit remains open as well.”
Protest organizers in Lexington said they also do not believe officers who are accused of misconduct should have legal representation paid for by the city, which they called “a gap in accountability that must be closed.”
Sarah Williams, 37, of Lexington said the protesters wanted to bring attention to a nine-page document that was submitted to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council last year asking for changes to be made to the police contract that is currently being negotiated. The contract is renegotiated every four years.
The changes demanded in the document included changes that could be made at the city level and would require changes in state law, Williams said.
“Not only are we dealing with a global pandemic with COVID that is disproportionately affecting black and brown and poor communities across the globe, we are still dealing with the racial pandemic that has been part of this country and this globe for 400 years,” Williams. “And they are all interconnected.”
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton issued a statement Saturday, saying she joined with the protesters in spirit, and she expressed a commitment to combating injustice.
“Lexington is a wonderful city full of caring people, but we’re not perfect,” she said. “We’ve made progress, but there’s more to do. The work ahead of us starts with listening … listening to the voices of all of our citizens to ensure all feel welcome here. Listening, then working together every day, not just Martin Luther King Day, to heal and bring unity, progress and peace.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 8:57 PM.
