Richmond Protest Against Police Brutality

Richmond, VA - Protesters took to the streets Friday night for the 15th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality (and the criminalization of a generation). A small crowd of people met up on 11th and Main Street where they were quickly addressed by the organizer.

The protesters then marched into the streets of Shockoe Slip and right into the InLight Richmond festival (a light-inspired art exhibition that consumed a good portion of the Shockoe Slip area). The speaker again addressed the crowd and people on the street. He went over a list of instances where police killed or brutalized people and explained the purpose of the protest.

The Special Events unit of the Richmond Police were not very happy about this, but allowed the protest to continue without amplified sound. When the speaker finished, the protesters chanted the names of police murder victims. They also held banners saying "Tear down all jails," and "police murder everywhere." One protester had an anarchist black flag and another had a red communist flag.

Over the course of the protest, a few pro-fascist people made a big stink about having their event interrupted. One drunk, old woman, who had clearly slobbered all over herself, was upset because "children didn't need to see this." Clearly she is in favor of sheltering her kids from the realities of protests, politics, and bad cops. Then two scrawny, pencil-neck art nerds said if the police weren't present they'd run off the protesters. In reality, we all know these kids have never thrown a punch in their life, let alone have the ability to run somebody off. There were also people who seemed to understand the reasons behind the protest, and one policeman even seemed to agree with the protesters that police brutality should be stopped.

Click here to read the call to action of the protest organizer.

This article is an edited version of what appeared on The Richmond Spark.