Arlington protesters vandalize Walmart across from AT&T Stadium, police say
After marching around downtown Arlington for two hours Monday evening, some protesters vandalized stores, according to police.
Around a dozen protesters broke into the Walmart across from AT&T Stadium, at 915 E. Randol Mill Road, after 11 p.m., according to Lt. Christopher Cook, an Arlington Police Department spokesman. Employees were still working in the store. Five were arrested and face charges of felony commercial burglary, Cook said.
He also reported protesters shattered the glass door of Jared Jewelry near Parks Mall, at 3951 S. Cooper St.
Earlier in the evening, Cook said protesters threw rocks and debris at police vehicles.
The protest began peacefully around 4 p.m. with a few dozen people holding signs — “My life matters,” “I can’t breathe,” “Give peace a chance,” “If you ain’t with us, we ain’t with y’all” — on a bridge over Interstate 20, so motorists below could see them. Police ultimately closed the bridge to vehicles.
The crowd grew over the next two hours and began marching up and down the pedestrian side of the bridge, chanting “No justice, no peace” and “Stop killing us.”
Many stood on the bridge holding signs or raising one closed fist into the air. Drivers below honked, waved and at times, stopped their vehicles on the highway to respond to the protesters. One driver climbed out of his sunroof and stood on top of his car in the middle of the interstate taking pictures of the protesters. Another car stopped next to him, temporarily blocking at least two lanes of traffic.
Moving protest
After three hours at the bridge, a group of protesters moved over to Arlington’s City Hall.
“We’ve got too many people losing their lives every day,” one person said over a megaphone.
The group chanted “Black lives matter.”
Many began kneeling, with their hands in the air, repeatedly chanting: “Hands up, don’t shoot.”
They held a moment of silence for George Floyd before chanting “no justice, no peace.” They later chanted, “I can’t breathe,” some of Floyd’s last words.
Some then laid in the street as a man with a megaphone said: “We are trying to get more than justice this time. This is a revolution.”
A male speaker later said that this “is not liberals versus conservatives. This is right versus wrong.”
After protesting about an hour near City Hall, the group began marching away, chanting “no justice, no peace.”
They walked around Arlington, protesting, for two more hours. Arlington police stayed on the outskirts of the protest.
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 12:01 AM.
