Peaceful protest held in downtown Fort Worth; highway blocked in Dallas demonstration
Lashaia Webster grew up in Minneapolis and shopped at stores and stood at bus stops near the intersection where the death of a black man who apparently was asphyxiated by a white police officer has flared rage this week in cities across the nation.
And though she moved to Fort Worth 18 years ago, Webster has watched with horror the video-recorded death of George Floyd and its aftermath.
“It’s happening everywhere,” she said of police blunders fueled, in part, by racism.
Friday evening, Webster, 48, marched with about 200 people in a peaceful demonstration through the streets of downtown Fort Worth in opposition to police misconduct and excessive use of force. They walked the perimeter of Sundance Square, in Main and Commerce streets and elsewhere downtown.
As the protesters chanted, the patrons of restaurants peered through glass from inside. A woman dining outdoors grumbled at the spectacle.
There was a larger demonstration in Dallas on Friday night. Outside police headquarters near downtown, about a thousand people gathered, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Several hundred protesters continued onto Interstate 35E, where they blocked traffic, the newspaper reported. People at Young and Griffin streets ran as police released tear gas.
Video from Dallas showed protesters being met by officers in riot gear and shields, the Associated Press reported.
One police officer received a non-life-threatening injury during the melee, and police vehicles had windows and windshields shattered and tires slashed, Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall said. There were no immediate reports of arrests.
In Fort Worth, law enforcement officers riding bicycles traveled with the protesters as they walked in the street. The officers blocked vehicles at intersections as the group wended through.
“I can’t breathe!” the demonstrators repeated, reciting Floyd’s exclamation before he died as a police officer pressed his knee into the victim’s neck for eight minutes. Officer Derek Chauvin arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, the AP reported. Chauvin was fired along with three other officers who were at the scene.
The group of protesters in Fort Worth gathered first at the historic Tarrant County Courthouse on West Weatherford Street.
While the immediate focus Friday was Floyd’s death, some protesters referred to the October death in Fort Worth of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman. Jefferson was shot by a white officer, Aaron Dean, who resigned. Dean was indicted on a murder charge in December.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 9:01 PM.
