For the 6th straight night, hundreds of protesters marched through Uptown Charlotte to speak out against systemic racial injustice and continued police brutality after the murder of George Floyd.
The march began at the Government Center immediately following a question and answer session by the mayor and members of the city council.
The session was sparked by a troubling incident from Tuesday night when CMPD officers appeared to trap a group of peaceful protesters between two streets and launching tear gas into the crowd. The incident was filmed live by alt-newspaper Queen City Nerve, and has since led to a full-scale investigation by the SBI the incident and of CMPD’s tactics.
Last night, when the Q&A session ended, the crowd repeatedly chanted, “Walk with us”, and soon, the mayor and several members of the city council joined the march.
HAPPENING NOW: Mayor of Charlotte Vi Lyles out walking with protesters @SpecNewsCLT pic.twitter.com/rOkZSM4wlL
— Tony Watts (@WattsNewsPhotog) June 3, 2020
Things got really emotional when the protesters stopped at an intersection to kneel in remembrance of George Floyd.
Mayor Lyles joined them in kneeling as Councilman Bokhari began to cry.
“i’m scared to go home.. bc they follow us”. Man, this is touching. Thank you @FinTechInnov8r & @ViLyles for being with protesters. Thank you for hearing them… & working to make change here at home, together.🖤✊🏾🙏 https://t.co/QgzaLeor9R
— Nicholas Liddle (@NLiddle16) June 3, 2020
The protest continued into the night, with things remaining peaceful until about 12:30am when some bottles were thrown at police and police returned fire with flash bangs.
The protest fizzled out at around 2am.