Protesters interrupt Mayor Betsy Price during Dickies Arena opening ceremony
A small group of protesters briefly interrupted Mayor Betsy Price during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday morning to celebrate the opening of Dickies Arena.
The group carried a banner with “We don’t feel safe” written on it as they paraded in front of the stage on the east side plaza of the new arena. They chanted the same thing as the crowd of about 2,000 mostly watched silently.
The mayor paused briefly before resuming her remarks to a big cheer from the crowd.
The group, which was made up of members from United Fort Worth and the Tarrant County Coalition for Community Oversight, is calling on the city to do more to protect innocent citizens in the wake of the murder of Atatiana Jefferson. She was killed by a Fort Worth police officer inside her home on Oct. 12. The officer, Aaron Dean, resigned two days later and has been charged with murder.
Jefferson was buried Thursday in Dallas.
“TCCCO doesn’t believe that business as usual should continue while people in Fort Worth don’t feel safe in their own homes,” said organizer Pamela Young in a released statement. “Particularly, black and brown people in historically under served and over-policed neighborhoods.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 12:56 PM.
